Hilmi Kaçar
Hilmi Kaçar is a historian specializing in Ottoman history, with a particular focus on early Ottoman historiography, political discourse, state formation, and cultural history of the 15th century.
Dr. Kaçar obtained his MA and PhD in History from Ghent University (Belgium). His doctoral dissertation, "A Mirror for the Sultan: State Ideology in the Early Ottoman Chronicles, 1410-1510", was published by Ghent University Press in July 2015. His forthcoming book, "Constructing Power: Ideology and Rulership in the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1500", is set to be published by Brill.
Before entering academia, Dr. Kaçar worked as a journalist for the Belgian News Agency BELGA and as a high school history teacher in Belgium. In 2011, he was instrumental in founding the Center for Turkish Studies at Ghent University, where he served as chair from 2015 to 2017. He organized numerous conferences, symposiums, and lecture series, supported in part by the Yunus Emre Institute (Turkey). He was also an affiliated member of the Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies and an active participant in the Ghent Centre for Global Studies.
From 2017 to 2024, Dr. Kaçar was an assistant professor at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (Turkey), where he taught courses in Ottoman Historiography, Islamic and Ottoman Advice Literature (mirrors for princes), Seljuk History, Historical Methodology, and Oral History. In 2018, he received a TUBİTAK Research Grant for his project comparing Ottoman and Burgundian political discourses in the 15th century.
Currently, Dr. Kaçar is focused on new research opportunities and continues to make significant contributions to the academic field of Ottoman studies.
Dr. Kaçar obtained his MA and PhD in History from Ghent University (Belgium). His doctoral dissertation, "A Mirror for the Sultan: State Ideology in the Early Ottoman Chronicles, 1410-1510", was published by Ghent University Press in July 2015. His forthcoming book, "Constructing Power: Ideology and Rulership in the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1500", is set to be published by Brill.
Before entering academia, Dr. Kaçar worked as a journalist for the Belgian News Agency BELGA and as a high school history teacher in Belgium. In 2011, he was instrumental in founding the Center for Turkish Studies at Ghent University, where he served as chair from 2015 to 2017. He organized numerous conferences, symposiums, and lecture series, supported in part by the Yunus Emre Institute (Turkey). He was also an affiliated member of the Henri Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies and an active participant in the Ghent Centre for Global Studies.
From 2017 to 2024, Dr. Kaçar was an assistant professor at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (Turkey), where he taught courses in Ottoman Historiography, Islamic and Ottoman Advice Literature (mirrors for princes), Seljuk History, Historical Methodology, and Oral History. In 2018, he received a TUBİTAK Research Grant for his project comparing Ottoman and Burgundian political discourses in the 15th century.
Currently, Dr. Kaçar is focused on new research opportunities and continues to make significant contributions to the academic field of Ottoman studies.
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Articles by Hilmi Kaçar
This article mainly analyses the pilgrimage narrative of the Burgundian
nobleman Joos van Ghistele, written by Ambrosius Zeebout in 1491.
Zeebout compiled a series of accounts on Sultan Mehmed II’s death, his
funeral, and the succession war between the crown princes, Cem and
Bayezid. In this article, the value of this Burgundian travel account as a
historical source is measured by comparing it with the records kept by the
contemporary Ottoman chroniclers. Particularly, the information provided
by the Burgundian text about the funeral ceremony of Sultan Mehmed II,
which is not mentioned in the Ottoman chronicles, constitutes an important contribution to fifteenth-century Ottoman historiography. Furthermore, this article also focuses on the nature of the distinction between the sultan and the ‘bureaucracy,’ and the complex forms of conflicting, overlapping, and complementing power relations within the Ottoman ruling class. These power relations gradually took shape within the fifteenth-century Ottoman state system and in its turn also influenced its formation. In short, this article refutes the widely held misapprehension which defined the Ottoman state in terms of ‘despotic sultanism’.
for the later medieval or early modern period.
Door deze simplistische schema’s blijft echter de geopolitieke en economische context vaak onderbelicht. Via de douane-unie met Turkije bijvoorbeeld heeft de EU sinds 1995 toegang tot een markt van meer dan 70 miljoen consumenten. Verder is er de rol van Turkije als belangrijk doorvoerland voor energielevering. Ongeveer 10% van alle internationale energietransporten in de wereld gaan door Turkije. Ook de nieuwe Russische energielijn naar Zuid-Europa, een concurrent van het door het Westen gesponsorde Nabuccoproject, zal door Turkse territoriale wateren lopen. Verder zorgde de herstructurering van de financiële sector na de economische crisis van 2001 ervoor dat de Turkse banken zonder financiële injecties van de overheid door de huidige crisis zijn gekomen.
Ondertussen zien we ook een vernieuwde Turkse buitenlandse politiek. Om zijn positie van regionale macht te herwinnen verzoent Turkije zich met de ‘problematische’ buren (Armenië, Syrië, Griekenland, Rusland en Iran). De beleidsmakers in Ankara lijken vastbesloten om de spanningen met hen weg te nemen via politieke en economische initiatieven, om hen zo ‘aandeelhouder’ in regionale stabiliteit te maken. Turkije is ook bemiddelaar in het Midden-Oosten, maar tegelijk viseerde premier Erdo?an de rechtse regering van oude bondgenoot Israël, omwille van de oorlogsmisdaden in Gaza. Het klopt dat Turkije investeert in nieuwe banden met het Oosten en, steunend op zijn unieke geopolitieke positie, zijn internationale betrekkingen diversifieert, maar de lijn met Europa blijft open. Dit alles gebeurt in een context van een groeiend politiek zelfvertrouwen en een bloeiende economie, die haar poorten meer en meer opent naar het Midden-Oosten, de Kaukasus en Centraal-Azië, wat ook voor Europa heel wat kansen biedt.
"
The article observed Turkey as a country with relatively low wages, based on a medium-technology and on a labour-intensive production. In this constellation, Turkey's economic surplus was skimmed off by the international capital funds, such as the international banks, speculators, investment funds and by the multinational companies. Another benefector from that situation was the so-called 'comprador' bourgeoisie. This article argued that any political economy that aimed to change Turkey's role in the international division of labour had also develop policies that in the long run were designed to change the working of the capitalist world economy.
Book Chapter by Hilmi Kaçar
PhD Thesis by Hilmi Kaçar
Conference Presentations by Hilmi Kaçar
This article mainly analyses the pilgrimage narrative of the Burgundian
nobleman Joos van Ghistele, written by Ambrosius Zeebout in 1491.
Zeebout compiled a series of accounts on Sultan Mehmed II’s death, his
funeral, and the succession war between the crown princes, Cem and
Bayezid. In this article, the value of this Burgundian travel account as a
historical source is measured by comparing it with the records kept by the
contemporary Ottoman chroniclers. Particularly, the information provided
by the Burgundian text about the funeral ceremony of Sultan Mehmed II,
which is not mentioned in the Ottoman chronicles, constitutes an important contribution to fifteenth-century Ottoman historiography. Furthermore, this article also focuses on the nature of the distinction between the sultan and the ‘bureaucracy,’ and the complex forms of conflicting, overlapping, and complementing power relations within the Ottoman ruling class. These power relations gradually took shape within the fifteenth-century Ottoman state system and in its turn also influenced its formation. In short, this article refutes the widely held misapprehension which defined the Ottoman state in terms of ‘despotic sultanism’.
for the later medieval or early modern period.
Door deze simplistische schema’s blijft echter de geopolitieke en economische context vaak onderbelicht. Via de douane-unie met Turkije bijvoorbeeld heeft de EU sinds 1995 toegang tot een markt van meer dan 70 miljoen consumenten. Verder is er de rol van Turkije als belangrijk doorvoerland voor energielevering. Ongeveer 10% van alle internationale energietransporten in de wereld gaan door Turkije. Ook de nieuwe Russische energielijn naar Zuid-Europa, een concurrent van het door het Westen gesponsorde Nabuccoproject, zal door Turkse territoriale wateren lopen. Verder zorgde de herstructurering van de financiële sector na de economische crisis van 2001 ervoor dat de Turkse banken zonder financiële injecties van de overheid door de huidige crisis zijn gekomen.
Ondertussen zien we ook een vernieuwde Turkse buitenlandse politiek. Om zijn positie van regionale macht te herwinnen verzoent Turkije zich met de ‘problematische’ buren (Armenië, Syrië, Griekenland, Rusland en Iran). De beleidsmakers in Ankara lijken vastbesloten om de spanningen met hen weg te nemen via politieke en economische initiatieven, om hen zo ‘aandeelhouder’ in regionale stabiliteit te maken. Turkije is ook bemiddelaar in het Midden-Oosten, maar tegelijk viseerde premier Erdo?an de rechtse regering van oude bondgenoot Israël, omwille van de oorlogsmisdaden in Gaza. Het klopt dat Turkije investeert in nieuwe banden met het Oosten en, steunend op zijn unieke geopolitieke positie, zijn internationale betrekkingen diversifieert, maar de lijn met Europa blijft open. Dit alles gebeurt in een context van een groeiend politiek zelfvertrouwen en een bloeiende economie, die haar poorten meer en meer opent naar het Midden-Oosten, de Kaukasus en Centraal-Azië, wat ook voor Europa heel wat kansen biedt.
"
The article observed Turkey as a country with relatively low wages, based on a medium-technology and on a labour-intensive production. In this constellation, Turkey's economic surplus was skimmed off by the international capital funds, such as the international banks, speculators, investment funds and by the multinational companies. Another benefector from that situation was the so-called 'comprador' bourgeoisie. This article argued that any political economy that aimed to change Turkey's role in the international division of labour had also develop policies that in the long run were designed to change the working of the capitalist world economy.