Campus & Community

Kafadar nabs Turkish honors

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Turkish President Abdullah Gül presented in December the 2010 Presidential Grand Awards in Culture and Arts to Cemal Kafadar for history. Kafadar is Harvard’s Vehbi Koc Professor of Turkish Studies. Gül awarded two others in the arts category.

Born in Istanbul in 1954, Kafadar received his doctorate at McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies. He was a faculty member at Princeton University from 1985 to 1989 and has been a faculty member at the Department of History of Harvard University since 1990.

Attaching great significance to the activities in arts, culture, and science during his address, Gül noted: “The best demonstration of this is that we appreciate the very assets of Turkey and introduce them to the Turkish public and the whole of the world with these awards we present every year.”

Kafadar, extending his thanks to the president and the jurors, noted that Turkey has achieved great developments and growth in 90 years and shared his pride in being granted an award as an indication of multivocalities in Turkey.