|
|
Research Institutes and Foundations
International cooperation is also provided by foreign research institutes that are housed mainly in Istanbul, sometimes with a branch office in Ankara. Most of institutes have a background in a single country of Europe or the USA, but the biggest of them, The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture (IRCICA) has been founded by the Islamic Conference Organisation. These institutions occupy a very distinct place in the academic landscape of Turkey and they serve as a bridgehead for young scholars interested in the country. Each of them has developed its own profile and assumed functions not shared by any other.
While there is no well-established system of academies of sciences in Turkey, the Turkish Historical Society (TTK) and the Turkish Linguistic Society (TDK) have long served as semi-official substitutes. As both TTK and TDK have lost their autonomy after the military coup of 1980, a number of initiatives has been taken to complement them, the most important probably being the Foundation for the Economic and Social History of Turkey (Tarih Vakfi). With its several hundred members, hundreds of projects and a publication house that translated a good part of the more important recent literature on Turkish history (and triggered other publishers beginning to do so likewise) it serves as a prime platform bringing international research and Turkish civil society into contact.
The last decade or so has also seen the establishment of research centres supported by Turkish foundations, most prominently the Islamic Research Centre of the foundation owned by the Directorate of Religious Affairs, a major state institution. This centre houses an impressive library and publishes the Türkiye Diyanet Vakfi Islâm Ansiklopedisi, an encyclopaedia of Islam authored predominantly by Turkish scholars (26 volumes published, letter K).
Turkey’s political, cultural and economic diversity unavoidably finds its reflection in its academic landscape, and especially in a field so closely related to the problems and politics of identity that are given enormous importance in public debate. The dynamic development and expansion of the Turkish university system given, everything said about it is inevitably prone to be outdated within a very short time.
(Olcay Akyildiz, Christoph K. Neumann)
 Islamic Studies
Disciplines
Universities
Research Institutes and Foundations
|
 |
|
