The Turkic world has lost a great scholar, a great intellectual, and a living embodiment of historical consciousness. Professor İlber Ortaylı is no longer with us since yesterday. His passing has been met with great sorrow and regarded as a heavy loss throughout the Turkic world.
The renowned scholar, who passed away on March 13, 2026, in a hospital in Istanbul where he was receiving treatment, had dedicated his 78-year life to history, science, and the enlightenment of society.
İlber Ortaylı was one of the rare scholars who managed to bring the science of history out of auditoriums and convey it to the wider society. Thanks to his lectures, books, and television appearances, thousands of people came to know Ottoman and Turkic history with new eyes.
Ortaylı, known especially for his research on the Ottoman Empire and the Turkic statehood tradition, also taught at many universities and mentored countless students.
His broad perspective on historical events, his views on the connections between civilizations, and the culture of statehood had made him one of the most listened-to intellectuals in the Turkic world.
İlber Ortaylı was one of the scholars who represented the common memory of the Turkic world. Ortaylı, who had Crimean Tatar roots, approached history from a supranational and civilizational perspective.
A recurring idea in his speeches was: history is not merely the memory of the past, but also the direction of the future. In this regard, Ortaylı's works and ideas will remain a valuable school for future generations.
In this photograph presented by the **Modern.az** website in its section **“The History of a Photograph,”** prominent Azerbaijani figures are depicted together with the late İlber Ortaylı.
This photograph is both a memory and a silent document carrying the spirit of an era. The figures gathered in this frame are the people who shaped the intellectual and literary treasury of the Turkic world.
İlber Ortaylı, who read the past with a historian's perspective; Əzizə Cəfərzadə, who transformed national memory into novels; Elçin Əfəndiyev, one of the leading prose writers of Azerbaijan; and Bəxtiyar Vahabzadə, who conveyed the breath of independence of our poetry to the world; and others…
Common ideas, words, and history had brought them together around a table. Even after years, the gazes frozen in this frame whisper a truth: when words and ideas unite, history is created.
The history of the photograph from the personal archive of People's Writer Elçin Əfəndiyev is recounted by Doctor of Philological Sciences Abid Tahirli:
“People's Writer Elçin founded the "Vətən" Society for Azerbaijani Cultural Relations with Compatriots Living Abroad in 1985. In 1988, the Society, with immense effort, celebrated the 175th anniversary of the birth of Mirza Fatali Akhundzade.”
This photograph was taken by Rasim Sadıxov, photojournalist of "Ədəbiyyat qəzetiÜ", at that international symposium.
In the photo, standing from left: Farhad Khalilov, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Artists' Union; Huseyn Heydarov, employee of the "Vətən" Society; People's Writer Əzizə Cəfərzadə; People's Writer, Chairman of the Presidium of the "Vətən" Society Elçin; Elxan muallim, employee of the "Vətən" Society; İldırım Dağyeli, Director of "Dağyeli-Ferlaq" Publishing House (Germany); Abid Tahirli, Executive Secretary of "Odlar yurdu" newspaper; Nazim İbrahimov, Chairman of the Committee for Polygraphy and Book Trade (Ministry of Press and Information); People's Poet Bəxtiyar Vahabzadə; Prof. Irene Melikova (France); seated (from left): Prof. Sərvər Tanilli (France); İlber Ortaylı, Director of Topkapi Museum (Istanbul).”
A.Gorkhmaz
