Historical Dictionary of Turkey

by Metin Heper, Duygu Öztürk-Tunçel, Nur Bilge Criss

The fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Turkey covers Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey through a time span of more than six centuries. It presents the basic characteristics of the two periods and traces the developments from an empire to a state-nation, from tradition to modernity, from a sultanate to a republic, and from modest country to a country that is already a regional power and further aspiring becoming a country to be reckoned with.

This is done through a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 900 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Turkey.

870 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2002

Reviews

[ehk2]

Of course, you cannot ignore the purpose of the text. It might be useful rather for foreigners to the country. For the natives, articles are too short to be meaningful, and it's shallow overall. Plus, Metin Heper's ideological preferences are very visible, in selection of wording or emphasis! There are some omissions and oddities (e.g. Berna Moran is male; can we call Tevfik Fikret a "bard"?! ) and wrong/absurd translations into English, which may be ignorable if you wish.