Oral History Videos
* We respectfully commemorate our esteemed professors who have passed away.
The biographical information is up to date as of May 2023.
Ayla Ödekan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beşiktaş/Istanbul
Date:
11 January 2018
Duration:
1 hour 23 minutes
Ayla Ödekan graduated from the Byzantine Chair of the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1965. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago in 1967. After completing her doctorate at Istanbul Technical University's Department of Architectural History, where she served as an assistant, she became a faculty member in the same department in 1976. From 1988 to 1996, she served as a faculty member in Istanbul University's Department of Archaeology and Art History, and from 1996 to 1999, she held a faculty position in Mimar Sinan University's Department of Art History. She retired in 2006 from Istanbul Technical University, where she returned in 1999.
Ayşe Çaylak Türker
Oral History Interview
Location:
Çanakkale
Date:
14 December 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Ayşe Çaylak Türker graduated from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1992. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at Gazi University in 1996. In 2004, she received her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. During her doctoral program, she began working as a research assistant in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. Since 2004, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University.
Buket Coşkuner
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
12 December 2018
Duration:
2 hours 39 minutes
Buket Coşkuner graduated from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1998. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 2002. In 2009, she obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. Since 2011, she has been working as a manager at the Koç University Center for Anatolian Civilizations, where she continues to serve in her role.
Buket Kitapçı Bayrı
Oral History Interview
Location:
Sarıyer/Istanbul
Date:
15 April 2019
Duration:
1 hour 36 minutes
Buket Kitapçı Bayrı graduated from the Department of History at Boğaziçi University in 1997. She completed her master's degree in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University in 2000. In 2010, she obtained her doctoral degree through the joint (cotutelle) program between Paris 1/Panthéon-Sorbonne and Boğaziçi Universities. She has taught courses at Bilgi, Yeditepe, and Boğaziçi Universities. From 2017 to 2022, she served as the academic coordinator for the preparation of the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies. She continues her work as an independent researcher.
Burcu Ceylan Duggan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Sarıyer/Istanbul
Date:
7 December 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Burcu Ceylan Duggan graduated from the Department of Architecture at the Middle East Technical University in 1991. She completed the master’s program in Architectural History at the Middle East Technical University in 1994. After completing her doctoral degree in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 2000, she started working as a faculty member in the Department of Architecture at Erciyes University, where she previously served as a research assistant. Since 2012, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Akdeniz University.
Bülent Işler
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
20 April 2019
Duration:
2 hours 31 minutes
Bülent Işler graduated from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1999. He completed his master's degree in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 2003. In 2009, he obtained his doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. After serving as a research assistant at Hacettepe University and Pamukkale University Departments of Art History during his master's and doctoral programs, he started working as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Gazi University in 2012. Since 2018, he has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University.
Ceren Ünal
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
26 November 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Ceren Ünal graduated from the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Bilkent University in 1997. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at Ege University in 2004. In 2010, she obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Ege University. During her master's and doctoral programs, she worked as a research assistant at Manisa Celal Bayar University and Ege University Departments of Art History. Since 2011, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Manisa Celal Bayar University.
Doğan Kuban
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beykoz/Istanbul
Date:
4 December 2017
Duration:
1 hour 10 minutes
Doğan Kuban graduated as an engineer-architect with a master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University's Department of Architecture in 1949. In 1952, he was appointed as an assistant at the Department of Architectural History at Istanbul Technical University. He completed his qualification thesis in 1954 and served as a faculty member until his retirement in 1993. He also taught at various universities abroad. In 2019, he received the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award. He passed away in 2021.
Ebru Altan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Fatih/Istanbul
Date:
10 January 2023
Duration:
Work in progress
Ebru Altan graduated from the Department of History at Istanbul University in 1992. She completed her master's degree in the same department in 1995. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of History at Istanbul University in 2000. Since 2003, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of History at Istanbul University, where she previously worked as a research assistant during her doctoral program.
Ebru Parman
Oral History Interview
Location:
Kadıköy/Istanbul
Date:
6 October 2017
Duration:
49 minutes
Ebru Parman obtained her undergraduate degrees from the Department of Classical Archaeology at Istanbul University in 1967 and from the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1969. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1974. She obtained her doctoral degree from the same department at Hacettepe University in 1978. She started her position as a research assistant in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1973 and continued her career as a faculty member after completing her doctoral degree. She served at Anadolu University, where she was involved in the establishment of the Department of Art History, starting from 1990. She retired in 2004.
Elif Keser Kayaalp
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
4 February 2019
Duration:
1 hour 51 minutes
Elif Keser Kayaalp graduated from the Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University in 1997. She completed the master's program in Architectural History at Middle East Technical University in 1999. She obtained her doctoral degree in the field of archaeology from the University of Oxford in 2009. She began her academic career as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Mardin Artuklu University in 2011 and continued her teaching position at Dokuz Eylül University in the Department of Museology from 2015 to 2023. Since 2023, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University.
Engin Akyürek
Oral History Interview
Location:
Sarıyer/İstanbul
Date:
11 December 2018
Duration:
2 hours 46 minutes
Engin Akyürek graduated from the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University in 1982. He completed his master's program in the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1991. After completing his doctoral degree in the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1995, he started working as a faculty member in the same department. Since 2014, he has been a faculty member in the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Koç University. In 2015, he took part in the establishment of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Center (GABAM) at Koç University. He continues to serve as the director of GABAM, which now operates as the Koç University Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Center.
Gülgün Köroğlu
Oral History Interview
Location:
Şişli/Istanbul
Date:
25 February 2019
Duration:
1 hour 1 minute
Gülgün Köroğlu graduated from the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Istanbul University in 1986. She obtained her master's degree in Western Art and Contemporary Arts program at Mimar Sinan University Institute of Social Sciences in 1989, and her doctoral degree in 1995. After completing her doctoral program, she continued her academic career as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, where she initially started as a research assistant. She has been serving as a faculty member since 1996.
Günder Varinlioğlu
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
23 December 2018
Duration:
2 hours 19 minutes
Günder Varinlioğlu graduated from the Department of Architecture at Middle East Technical University in 1995. She completed his master's degree in Archaeology and Art History at Bilkent University in 1998. She obtained his doctoral degree in Mediterranean Art and Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. From 2008 to 2012, she worked at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library. Since 2014, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University.
Ilber Ortaylı
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beşiktaş/Istanbul
Date:
13 December 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Ilber Ortaylı graduated from the Department of History at Ankara University Faculty of Languages and History-Geography in 1969. He received his master's degree from the Department of History at the University of Chicago in 1970. After completing his doctoral studies at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences in 1974, he served as a faculty member at the same faculty until 1982. After working at Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences again from 1989 to 2002, he has been serving as a visiting professor at Galatasaray University since 2002 and at MEF University since 2004.
Koray Durak
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beşiktaş/Istanbul
Date:
26 July 2018
Duration:
1 hour 1 minute
Koray Durak graduated from the Department of International Relations at Boğaziçi University in 1998. He completed his master's degree in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University in 2001. He received his doctoral degree from the Department of History at Harvard University in 2008. He has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University since 2008 and is the deputy director of the Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center.
Kutlu Akalın
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
19 November 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Kutlu Akalın graduated from the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University in 1996. He completed his master's degree in the Department of History at Bilkent University in 1999. He received his doctoral degree from the Department of History at Princeton University in 2011. From 2012 to 2020, he served as a faculty member at the Institute of Living Languages at Mardin Artuklu University. Since 2020, he has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of History at Istanbul Medeniyet University.
Melek Delilbaşı
Oral History Interview
Location:
Kadıköy/Istanbul
Date:
21 April 2018
Duration:
1 hour 30 minutes
Melek Delilbaşı graduated from the Department of History at Ankara University's Faculty of Languages and History-Geography in 1968 and served as an assistant in the same department. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of History at Ankara University's Faculty of Languages and History-Geography in 1973 and served as a faculty member there until her retirement in 2014. During her tenure, she held various administrative positions and established the Department of Modern Greek Language and Literature. From 2006 until her passing in 2022, she served as the president of the National Committee for Byzantine/East Roman Studies.
Meryem Acara Eser
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
26 November 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Meryem Acara Eser graduated from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1987. She completed her master's degree in the same department at Hacettepe University in 1990. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1997. During her doctoral studies, she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. Since 2005, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Sivas Cumhuriyet University.
Murat Keçiş
Oral History Interview
Location:
Kartal/Istanbul
Date:
10 November 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Murat Keçiş graduated from the Department of History at Sivas Cumhuriyet University in 1998. He completed his master's degree at the Department of History at Ankara University's Faculty of Languages and History-Geography in 2003. He obtained his doctoral degree from the same department in 2009. During his master's and doctoral programs, he worked as a research assistant at the history departments of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and Faculty of Languages and History-Geography at Ankara University. Since 2011, he has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of History at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University.
Nevra Necipoğlu
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beşiktaş/Istanbul
Date:
28 May 2019
Duration:
3 hours 20 minutes
Nevra Necipoğlu graduated with degrees in Economics and History from Wellesley College in 1982. She completed her master's degree in the Department of History at Harvard University in 1984. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of History at Harvard University in 1990. Since 1990, she has been working as a faculty member in the Department of History at Boğaziçi University. In addition to her role as the director of the Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center, which she helped establish in 2015, she has been serving as the secretary-general of the Byzantine/Early Byzantine Studies National Committee, of which she is also a founding member, since 2000.
Nilay Çorağan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
21 January 2019
Duration:
1 hour 34 minutes
Nilay Çorağan graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Art History in 1987. She completed her master's degree in the same department at Hacettepe University in 1989. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1998. Since 1998, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Erciyes University, where she began her academic career as a research assistant during her doctoral studies.
Özgü Çömezoğlu Uzbek
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
10 December 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Özgü Çömezoğlu Uzbek graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Art History in 1997. She completed her master's degree in the same department at Hacettepe University in 2001. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 2007. Since 2013, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Istanbul University, where she began her academic career as a research assistant during her doctoral studies.
Sacit Pekak
Oral History Interview
Location:
Sarıyer/Istanbul
Date:
19 March 2019
Duration:
2 hours 22 minutes
Sacit Pekak graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Art History in 1981. He completed his master's degree in the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Hacettepe University in 1984. He obtained his doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1991. Starting as a research assistant during his master's and doctoral studies, he served as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University from 1992 until his retirement in 2022.
Sema Doğan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
9 February 2019
Duration:
2 hours 5 minutes
Sema Doğan graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Archaeology and Art History in 1982. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1985. She obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1996. Starting as a research assistant during her doctoral program, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University since 1996.
Semavi Eyice
Oral History Interview
Location:
Kadıköy/Istanbul
Date:
28 July 2017
Duration:
2 hours 17 minutes
Semavi Eyice graduated from Istanbul University's Department of Art History in 1948 and served as an assistant in the same department. He completed his doctoral degree at the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1952. Until his retirement in 1991, he held a faculty position at the Department of Art History at Istanbul University and also taught courses at various universities both in Turkey and abroad. In 1963, he played a key role in establishing the Chair of Byzantine Art, and in 1964, he was appointed as its chairperson. He is the honorary chairman of the National Committee for Byzantine/East Roman Studies. He received the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award in 2011. He passed away in 2018.
Suna Çağaptay
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
30 March 2019
Duration:
2 hours 28 minutes
Suna Çağaptay graduated from Bilkent University's Department of Archaeology and Art History in 1998. She completed her master's degree in the same department at Bilkent University in 2001. She obtained her doctoral degree in the field of Architectural History and Theory from the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2007. Since 2009, she has been serving as a faculty member at Bahçeşehir University's Faculty of Architecture and Design, while also conducting academic research at various universities abroad.
Şahin Kılıç
Oral History Review
Location:
Sarıyer/Istanbul
Date:
29 April 2019
Duration:
2 hours 9 minutes
Şahin Kılıç graduated from Istanbul University's Department of Art History in 1999. He completed his master's degree at Uludağ University's Department of History in 2003. He obtained his doctoral degree from Ankara University's Faculty of Languages and History-Geography in 2011. After serving as a research assistant during his master's and doctoral programs at the departments of history at Uludağ University and Ankara University's Faculty of Languages and History-Geography, he began working as a faculty member at Uludağ University in 2013. Since 2015, he has been serving as a faculty member at Trakya University's Department of Balkan Languages and Literatures.
Tolga Uyar
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
23 January 2018
Duration:
2 hours 22 minutes
Tolga Uyar graduated from Istanbul University's Department of Italian Language and Literature in 1996. He obtained his bachelor's degree in 1997 and his master's degree in 1998 from the Department of Archaeology and Art History at Paris 1/Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He completed his doctoral degree in 2011 at the same department. Since 2015, he has been serving as a faculty member at Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University's Department of Art History.
Turhan Kaçar
Oral History Interview
Location:
Kadıköy/Istanbul
Date:
21 March 2019
Duration:
3 hours 3 minutes
Turhan Kaçar graduated from Istanbul University's Department of History in 1989. He obtained his master's degree from Swansea University (formerly known as the University of Wales, Swansea) in 1996. He completed his Ph.D. in the field of Classical and Ancient History at the same university in 2000. During his master's and doctoral programs, he served as a research assistant at Balıkesir University's Department of History from 2000 to 2009. He then held teaching positions at Pamukkale University's Department of History from 2009 to 2015 and Istanbul Medeniyet University's Department of History from 2015 to 2022. In 2022, he was appointed as the rector of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University.
Ufuk Serin
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
10 December 2022
Duration:
Work in progress
Ufuk Serin graduated from the Middle East Technical University's Department of Architecture in 1989. She completed her master's degree at the same department in 1995. She obtained her Ph.D. in Early Christian Art and Archaeology from the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in 2002. Since 2003, she has been serving in the Department of Architecture at the Middle East Technical University, where he has been working as a faculty member since 2006.
Yelda Olcay Uçkan
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
18 January 2019
Duration:
2 hours 1 minute
Yelda Olcay Uçkan graduated from Hacettepe University's Department of Art History in 1987. She completed her master's degree at Hacettepe University's Department of Archaeology and Art History in 1990. She obtained her Ph.D. from Hacettepe University's Department of Art History in 1997. Since starting her position as a research assistant during her Ph.D. program, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Anadolu University since 1997.
Zeliha Demirel Gökalp
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
13 April 2019
Duration:
1 hour 24 minutes
Zeliha Demirel Gökalp graduated from the Department of Art History at Anadolu University in 1997. She completed her master's degree at Hacettepe University's Department of Archaeology and Art History in 2001. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of Art History at Anadolu University in 2007. During her master's program, she started her position as a research assistant at Hacettepe University and continued her academic career as a lecturer at Anadolu University starting from 2005. Since 2008, she has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Art History at Anadolu University.
Zeynep Ahunbay
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
21 November 2017
Duration:
54 minutes
Zeynep Ahunbay graduated as an engineer-architect with a master’s degree from the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University in 1970. In 1971, she was appointed as an assistant at the Department of Architectural History and Conservation at Istanbul Technical University, where she completed her doctoral studies in 1975. In 1978, she obtained a master's degree in conservation from York University. She served as a faculty member at the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University until her retirement in 2013. In 2017, she received the 16th Vehbi Koç Award for her contributions in her field.
Zeynep Mercangöz
Oral History Interview
Location:
Beyoğlu/Istanbul
Date:
9 February 2019
Duration:
2 hours 47 minutes
Zeynep Mercangöz graduated from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University in 1975. She completed her master's degree in the same department at Hacettepe University in 1979. In 1985, she obtained her doctoral degree from the Department of Art History at Hacettepe University. During her doctoral program, she started working as a research assistant at the Department of Art History at Ege University, where she served as a faculty member from 1992 onwards. She retired in 2021 after a long and successful career in academia.