{"id":283676,"date":"2026-03-14T06:38:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T06:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/?p=283676"},"modified":"2026-03-14T06:43:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T06:43:49","slug":"ilber-ortayli-and-disappearing-memory-after-a-scholar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/ilber-ortayli-and-disappearing-memory-after-a-scholar\/","title":{"rendered":"After a Scholar: Ilber Ortayl\u0131 and Disappearing Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a society is shaken by major crises, sometimes by wars, sometimes by economic collapse.
\nBut there are some losses that cannot be compared to any catastrophe. Because those losses are not just the death of a person; they are the loss of a is the loss of memory, of a culture, of a mentality.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of such losses are the lines written after a historian.
\nBecause the person we call a historian is not actually someone who tells the past; he is someone who carries the past to the present, to the people of today. reminding us of the depth of time<\/strong> is a person.<\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, one of the names that carried this role in Turkey for years Ilber Ortayl\u0131<\/strong> It happened.<\/p>\n

It would be incomplete to define him only as an academic. Because what Ortayl\u0131 represented was not only the lectures given in university chairs. In a sense, he was one of the last representatives of a tradition that was gradually weakening in Turkey: of the classical intellectual tradition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today in Turkey, the word \u201cintellectual\u201d is often defined by political identities. However, in the old sense, a munevver was a person who did not get stuck in the narrow molds of politics and had a deep understanding of history, language, culture and civilization.<\/p>\n

\u0130lber Ortayl\u0131 was one of the living examples of this tradition.<\/p>\n

The Man Who Taught History to Talk<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was one thing that everyone who listened to Ortayl\u0131 realized:
\nHe was not telling history; was talking to history.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he talked about an Ottoman governor, he didn't just describe a bureaucrat; he would make you visualize the city life of that period, the diplomatic relations, even the smell of the streets.<\/p>\n

In his narrative, history is not a frozen chronology, a living organism<\/strong> It was like.<\/p>\n

Because Ortayl\u0131's mind was nourished not only with documents but also with languages, geographies and cultures. His knowledge of languages ranging from Latin to Russian, German to Italian was one of the most important elements that expanded his understanding of history.<\/p>\n

A historian's greatest weapon is not the archive; perspective.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is where Ortayl\u0131's power came from.<\/p>\n

The Politicization of History in Turkey<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Turkey, history is often seen as an academic field rather than an academic discipline. a political battleground<\/strong> It happened.<\/p>\n

Different ideological groups have constructed their own narratives of history.
\nSome romanticized the Ottoman Empire, some sanctified the Republic, while others turned both eras into the material for ideological fights.<\/p>\n

In the midst of these debates, \u0130lber Ortayl\u0131 often took an uncomfortable position:
\nHe refused to subordinate history to ideology.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That's why sometimes conservatives criticized him, sometimes secular circles.
\nBut Ortayl\u0131's attitude has generally not changed.<\/p>\n

He's history. to keep a cool head<\/strong> defended.<\/p>\n

He neither indulged in nostalgia nor hate speech when describing an empire.<\/p>\n

This attitude is actually a basic principle of the academy.
\nBut in societies like Turkey that construct identity through history, it is not easy to maintain this principle.<\/p>\n

A Memory of Civilization<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was an idea that Ortayl\u0131 often repeated in his speeches:
\n\u201cSocieties that do not know history remain children.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This sounds like a simple sentence, but it actually expresses a very deep truth.<\/p>\n

History is not just about learning about the past; it is is a process of self-knowledge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a nation does not understand its past, it cannot understand its present.<\/p>\n

The Ottoman administrative system, urbanization in the Balkans, relations with Russia or Mediterranean trade...
\nThese are not just stories of ancient times.<\/p>\n

To understand today's Turkey, it is necessary to know this past.<\/p>\n

One of Ortayl\u0131's greatest contributions was his ability to explain this historical depth to large masses.<\/p>\n

The Loneliness of an Intellectual<\/strong><\/p>\n

True intellectuals are often lonely.<\/p>\n

Because the duty of the intellectual is not to say what society likes, is a reminder of the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is why \u0130lber Ortayl\u0131's speeches were sometimes harsh, sometimes impatient, sometimes ironic.<\/p>\n

But there was a deep anxiety behind that toughness:
\nTurkey's declining cultural level<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He repeatedly said that a society that does not read books, does not know history and does not learn languages cannot build a great civilization.<\/p>\n

These warnings were sometimes ignored, sometimes ridiculed.
\nBut he kept on saying the same thing.<\/p>\n

Because being an intellectual is a bit is to insist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The End of a Generation<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we look at the world of academia in Turkey today, we see a great transformation.<\/p>\n

The classical historians, philologists and cultural figures of the past are slowly fading from the scene.<\/p>\n

In their place comes a more technical but often more narrowly focused academic structure.<\/p>\n

This change is not unique to Turkey; universities all over the world are increasingly technocratic institutions<\/strong> is transforming.<\/p>\n

But this transformation comes at a price.<\/p>\n

And that price is weakening of the memory of civilization.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Names like \u0130lber Ortayl\u0131 did not only produce academic works; they also kept the cultural memory of the society alive.<\/p>\n

A person dies, a memory is lost<\/strong><\/p>\n

Writing after a thinker is always a difficult task.<\/p>\n

Because in such moments one thinks not just of a person, but of an era.<\/p>\n

The voice of a historian who once spoke for hours in university lecture halls, television programs or conference halls will no longer be heard.<\/p>\n

But the books, students and ideas he left behind will live on.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is the true legacy of an intellectual.<\/p>\n

A person dies;
\nbut the thought lives on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most accurate sentence that can be said after \u0130lber Ortayl\u0131 is this:<\/p>\n

He was not just a historian telling the past.
\nTell us reminding us of the depth of time<\/strong> was a teacher.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the real question to be asked after him today is this:<\/p>\n

Will this country be able to raise new intellectuals to tell its own history?<\/p>\n

Because societies can overcome major crises.<\/p>\n

But when they lose their memory<\/strong> it will be much more difficult for them to get back on their feet.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was not just a historian telling us about the past. He was a teacher who reminded us of the depth of time.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":283677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[286],"tags":[289],"class_list":{"0":"post-283676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-yazarlar","8":"tag-manset"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283678,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283676\/revisions\/283678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}