The First Original Educational Encyclopedia Highlighting Turkish Education History Has Been Introduced
The Turkish Maarif Encyclopedia, prepared by TÜBA and the Turkish Maarif Foundation as a gift to the 100th anniversary of the Republic, consisting of 6 volumes and 3,120 pages in total, was introduced at a meeting held at the headquarters of the Turkish Maarif Foundation in Üsküdar.
The work, which includes approximately 1300 articles written by expert authors and academics, was realized between 2021-2024 as a result of the intensive labor and detailed work of more than 700 academics and researchers from different disciplines.
Encyclopedia is now available online
The encyclopedia, which aims to contribute to the educational understanding of today's world by examining the accumulation of Turks in the field of education throughout history with scientific methods, is the first and most comprehensive publication in its field. The articles in the encyclopedia are grouped into five categories in the fields of educational sciences, history of education, culture and civilization. Concepts, artifacts, institutions, people, cities, events and periods are the main framework of the encyclopedia. In the category of concepts, concepts belonging to the Turks, who have had a profound impact on the history of world education, were presented. It was shown that the Turkish education world was able to produce many original concepts in its own past that would give self-confidence to new generations.
In the category of artifacts, the main sources of culture and civilization were included, while in the category of institutions, the institutions created by the Turkish cultural and educational world from the earliest known periods of history to the 21st century were included. In the category of people, prominent figures in the history of education were introduced and names who have set an example for human history with their lives and works were selected in addition to their own cultural environment. In the category of cities, events and periods, important cities in the history of Turkish education and culture, as well as important developments in education and periods that left their mark were discussed. The Encyclopedia of Turkish Education is now online at www.turkmaarifansiklopedisi.org.tr.
Istanbul Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Hüseyin Keskin, former Deputy Minister of National Education Prof. Osman Sezgin, Rector of Kütahya Dumlupınar University Prof. Süleyman Kızıltoprak, Rector of Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University Prof. Semih Aktekin, Rector of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University Prof. Nevzat Şimşek, writer Beşir Ayvazoğlu, writer İskender Pala and members of the board of trustees of the foundation attended the meeting.
An important source and guide that will shed light from the past to the future
In his message, the Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır wished the meeting to be beneficial and said: “I would like to congratulate our institutions that brought this precious work, which emerged as a result of intensive efforts and studies, to our world of education. I believe that our encyclopedia will be an important source and guide that will shed light on our journey of knowledge and wisdom from the past to the future. I congratulate the Turkish Maarif Foundation and the Turkish Academy of Sciences for their meticulous work. I wish the Turkish Maarif Encyclopedia to be a blessing and good fortune to our country.”
There is 4 thousand years of history behind it
In his speech, TÜBA President Prof. Muzaffer Şeker stated that it is not easy to do joint work, but it is a great pleasure to see the end of a difficult work and thanked everyone who contributed, including the President of the Turkish Maarif Foundation Prof. Birol Akgün. He noted that they will present the work to the benefit of everyone with technological developments from now on. Şeker said, “It was a long journey. It makes us extremely happy that the work put forth is permanent and that it is a work that will contribute to the notebook of all of us in the afterlife.”
Prof. Ahmet Emre Bilgili, Deputy President of the Maarif Foundation of Türkiye, noted that an encyclopedia of education had not been published before and that they had initiated the work because they saw this deficiency. “This geography, this civilization has a great educational accumulation. We wanted to present this educational accumulation in an encyclopedia,” Bilgili said, noting that there is a lot of labor and accumulation in the work they have been working on for four years.
First copyrighted encyclopedia of education
Reminding that the Maarif Foundation is a global educational organization, Bilgili said, “The most valuable aspect of encyclopedic knowledge is that it is reliable. Reliability lies in the subjectivity of that information, its sources. It passes through many channels and becomes far more reliable information. For this reason, the degree of reliability is extremely high. We have put forward our educational background through people, works, concepts and cities. We say without modesty that the Maarif Foundation of Türkiye, together with the Academy of Sciences of Türkiye, has accomplished a very strategic work.”
If we want to exist, we will leave a mark
Prof. Azmi Özcan, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Turkish Maarif Encyclopedia, emphasized that behind the work is a 40-year Encyclopedia of Islam and a 4,000-year history. Özcan said, “If you want to exist in the world of being, you need to leave a mark in the time and place you live in. If you do not accomplish this, you cannot make geography your homeland. Your Turkestan becomes Central Asia, your homeland becomes the Middle East, your time becomes Greenwich. I think that the Turkish nation, we Muslim Turks, came to the earth not to be wealthy but to exist. If we want to exist, we will leave a mark. If a nation does not have an encyclopedia, if it does not have an atlas, if it does not re-embroider its founding texts for each new generation, it is not possible for it to continue this competition.” Noting that the skill is in keeping the work alive, Özcan thanked those who worked day and night for this work.
After the speeches, members of the scientific board were given certificates of appreciation and the meeting ended with a family photo.
