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İlber Ortaylı

إلبير أورطايلي

–

Istanbul

Turkish historian of Crimean Tatar origin (1947–2026), among the most prominent Ottoman historians of his generation. Born in a refugee camp at Bregenz, Austria, he came to Turkey aged two, studied at Ankara, Vienna and Chicago — his master's under Halil İnalcık — and took his doctorate at Ankara University in 1978. He taught at Ankara, Galatasaray and Bilkent universities, directed the Topkapı Palace Museum from 2005 to 2012, and brought Ottoman history to a mass audience through his books and television programmes. He died at Istanbul on 13 March 2026 and was buried in the Fatih Mosque graveyard.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
Historian · writer
Region
Anatolia
Identifiers
Wikidata

Life in time

1900192519501975200020252050
The Colonial Era · The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: Colette Khoury · Liamine Zéroual · Michael Bambang Hartono · Sidya Touré · Walid Khalidi

In space

Istanbul

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Place in the story

    Unknown (unknown)

    Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

    In the Modern Islam Browser

    Modern Islam BrowserFigures of the last fifty years2026

    Connections

    Explore the connections

    Lived in
    Istanbul
    Died in
    Istanbul

    People and things also explored

    Arap Camii, Istanbul· Gazi Atik Ali Pasha Mosque, Istanbul· Eski Imaret Mosque· Eyüp Sultan Mosque· Fenari Isa Mosque· Gul Mosque, Istanbul· Hagia Sophia· Hirami Ahmed Pasha Mosque, Istanbul

    Sources

    • İlber Ortaylı — English Wikipedia
    • İlber Ortaylı — Turkish Wikipedia
    • İlber Ortaylı — Arabic Wikipedia
    • İlber Ortaylı — Wikidata
    Cite this page

    islam.museum contributors. “İlber Ortaylı”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/ilber-ortayli/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-31.

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    Wing

    People

    Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.     Related

    Arap Camii, Istanbul

    Draft card for Arap Camii (the Arab Mosque) in Galata, Istanbul, the former Latin church converted to a mosque and known for its pier-supported minaret; per the cited architecture survey, the page not yet checked.