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Feroz Ahmad

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Feroz Ahmad
Born
Ferouz-Uddin Ahmad

1938 (age 85–86)
Alma mater
Known forModern Turkish studies
AwardsOrder of Merit of the Republic of Turkey
Scientific career
FieldsHistory and political science
Institutions
Thesis The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914  (1966)
Doctoral advisorBernard Lewis

Feroz Ahmad (born 1938) is a retired academic, historian and political scientist who taught at different universities, including the University of Massachusetts Boston, Tufts University, Harvard University, Columbia University and Yeditepe University. He is one of the leading scholars studying modern history of Turkey.[1]

Early life and education

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Ahmad was born in New Delhi in 1938.[2] He received a bachelor's degree in history from Delhi University and a master's degree in the same field from the University of London.[3] He obtained a PhD from the University of London under the supervision of Bernard Lewis in 1966, and his thesis was about the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.[2][4] It was first published by Clarendon Press in 1969 with the title The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914.[5]

Career

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Ahmad worked at several US universities between 1966 and 2003.[2] He was Emeritus Professor of history at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.[6] From 2006 he taught at Yeditepe University, Istanbul.[2]

Work and views

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Ahmad has published many books and articles, most of which are concerned with Ottoman and modern Turkish history.[7] His major books are as follows:[2] The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908–1914 (1969);[8] An Annotated Chronology of Multi-Party Politics in Turkey (1976, with Bedia Turgay Ahmad); From Unionism to Kemalism, Essays (1985); Turkish Experiment in Democracy (1994); The Making of Modern Turkey (1995); Turkey: The Quest for Identity (2006); From Empire to Republic: Essays on the Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (2008); and The Young Turks and the Ottoman Nationalities: Armenians, Greeks, Albanians, Jews, and Arabs, 1908–1918 (2014).

In From Empire to Republic: Essays on the Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey Ahmad argues that the reports of the British Foreign Office and of the Istanbul correspondents of The Times newspaper, and the conservative publications in the Ottoman Empire are the roots of the popular anti-semitic conspiracy theories in Turkey.[9]

Personal life

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Ahmad's wife was a Turkish woman, Bedia Turgay Ahmad (died December 2018), whom he married in 1964.[2] He has twin girls from this marriage.[2] He has been staying at Darüşşafaka Residence in Istanbul since 2017.[2]

Honors

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Ahmad is the recipient of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey, which was awarded to him in August 2014.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Mustafa Bilgin (2007). Britain and Turkey in the Middle East. Politics and Influence in the Early Cold War Era. London; New York: Tauris Academic Studies. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-84511-350-6.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Prof. Feroz Ahmad: "My wife and I, we were both very happy that we came to Darüşşafaka"". Darüşşafaka. 17 August 2020. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Feroz Ahmad" (in Turkish). Yeditepe University. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  4. ^ Ferouz-Uddin Ahmad (1966). "The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1913". SOAS University of London. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00033595.
  5. ^ Feroz Ahmad (1969). The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821475-5.
  6. ^ "Feroz Ahmad". Oneworld Publications. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Turkish president honors distinguished historian Feroz Ahmad". Hürriyet Daily News. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  8. ^ Roderic H. Davison (September 1972). "Book review. The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914 by Feroz Ahmad". Political Science Quarterly. 87 (3): 489–491. doi:10.2307/2149234. JSTOR 2149234.
  9. ^ Marc David Baer (Fall 2013). "An Enemy Old and New: The Dönme, Anti-Semitism, and Conspiracy Theories in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 103 (4): 530. JSTOR 43298763.