Library Donors

Orhan Şaik Gökyay (1902-1994)
Born in 1902 in İnebolu, he graduated from the Dârülfünun Faculty of Literature in 1930. He worked as a teacher for many years, and also as a literary history researcher and poet. His important works include the poem “Whose is this Homeland,” Selections from Kātib Çelebi, and Dede Ḳorḳud Stories. He died on December 2, 1994.

The collection he endowed to ISAM while he was alive contains 13 manuscripts, 9,872 volumes of books, and 8,649 issues of 257 journals. His collection of works written in Ottoman Turkish and Latin-lettered Turkish focuses on Turkish literature, Turkish language, and folklore. The collection also includes a significant number of works in the Cyrillic script. It is presented to the use of readers as a special collection in the ISAM Library with an open shelf system. The collection of documents belonging to Orhan Şaik Gökyay in the ISAM Library Archive is categorized under nine headings, in 106 files, and 2,069 records.

Click here to see the ISAM Library Orhan Shaik Gökyay Records.

For more information about Orhan Shaik Gökyay and his works, see the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam.

Yavuz Argıt (1934-2009)
He was born in 1934 in İzmit and started his maritime career as a petty officer, before leaving this position and working at PETKİM. Between 1982 and 1994, he worked as an engineer and chief engineer on long-haul transportation vessels. Yavuz Argıt, who meticulously read every book and periodical in his collection, moved to ISAM with his collection on May 29, 1999 and lived among his books until his death on May 7, 2009. His collection of approximately 25,000 books and journals is available for the use of readers in his private collection at the ISAM Library with an open shelf system.

Nuhoğlu Family
Hidayet Yavuz Nuhoğlu donated both the books left to his family by his father, who was a bookseller, and his private library to ISAM on behalf of the Nuhoğlu family on June 1, 2006. The collection consists of works in Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, and English and includes 72 manuscripts, 5,052 volumes of books, and 1,310 issues of periodicals belonging to 73 journals. The private collection is available for the use of readers at the ISAM Library with an open shelf system.

Kasım Küfrevî (1920-1992)
Born in 1920 in Bitlis, he graduated from the Istanbul University Faculty of Literature, eventually completing his doctorate at the same faculty. He served as Ağrı deputy and Ağrı senator in different periods. He studied Islamic sciences in his childhood. Fluent in English, German, French, Persian, and Arabic, Küfrevî published many articles and books. He died on December 3, 1992.

His collection contains 3,679 works, 261 of which are manuscripts. The Küfrevî collection was donated to ISAM by his daughter Semra Nasırlı on April 30, 2006. The collection consists almost entirely of works in Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, English, and Persian, and mostly includes first editions of foundational works on Islam. It is available for the use of readers in the open shelf system in the private collection of the ISAM Library.

For more information about Kasım Küfrevî, see the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam.

Baykan Sezer (1968-2002)
Born in Malatya in 1939, he graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Sociology with a bachelor’s thesis titled “The Place of Greekness in the East-West Conflict” in 1968. He was appointed head of the sociology department of the same faculty in 1982. Between 1982 and 1993, he served as the head of the department and the head of the Sociology Research Center, and until his retirement, as the head of the Department of General Sociology and Methodology. He passed away on September 7, 2002. Sezer’s rich collection of works related to sociology written in French, English, and Turkish was donated to the ISAM Library by Ertan Eğribel and Mehmet Ufuk Özcan on July 3, 2013.

Rüçhan Arık-Oluş Arık
The rich book collections of Rüçhan Arık and Mehmet Oluş Arık, two prominent figures in Turkish art history and archaeology, were transferred to the ISAM Library in the last days of 2018. The collection, consisting of around 5,500 books and periodicals in the fields of art history, archaeology, philology, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, fine arts, and literature, has been made available to researchers.

İnci Enginün
He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Turkish Language and Literature, before becoming research assistant to the Turkish Literature Chair of the same faculty. He completed his doctorate with his thesis titled “Shakespeare Translation and Effects in Turkish Literature of the Tanzimat Period” in 1968. He became an associate professor in 1974 and a professor in 1984 with his thesis titled “The East and the West in Halide Edib Adıvar’s Novels.” In the same year, he transferred to Marmara University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Turkish Language and Literature. In 1981, he was awarded the National Cultural Foundation of Türkiye prize for his book titled National Struggle and Gazi Mustafa Kemal with the Pen of the Writers of the Period. He was twice selected twice as the “writer of the year” by the Writers’ Union of Türkiye. He was also a full member of the Turkish Language Association. Between 1988 and 1993, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO. Enginün, who has been donating books to our library periodically for years, has so far donated 1,548 volumes of his works in Turkish and English, mostly on literature and theater, to our library shelves and presented to the benefit of researchers. The archives and documents belonging to Enginün are gradually transferred to the ISAM Library Archive Unit. The work on documents and sources continues and when the collection is completed, it will be classified and presented to the researchers.

Hasan Nejat Göyünç (1925-2001)
Born in 1925 in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, he graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of History in 1948. He completed his doctorate at Göttingen University. He worked as a lecturer at many universities. Between 1979 and 1980, he served as the general director of the Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives. He is the founder of the Journal of Ottoman Studies. He published many articles and books during his illustrious career. On July 1, 2001, Nejat Göyünç passed away and is buried in Çengelköy Cemetery. His collection, donated by him, contains 1,129 volumes of books and 189 issues of 19 journals. Almost all of the works are in Turkish, German, and English, with a focus on history and social sciences. A part of his collection is also in the Prof. Dr. Nejat Göyünç Library at the Gebze Institute of Advanced Technology, which was named after him.

For more information about him, see the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam.

İrfan Fethi Gemuhluoğlu (1923-1977)
Born in 1923 in Istanbul, he graduated from Haydarpaşa High School and Istanbul University Faculty of Law. He worked as a teacher of the Turkish language and literature in various schools in Istanbul between 1950 and 1955. Between 1955 and 1963, he worked as the director of the Istanbul Sports and Exhibition Center, and between 1965 and 1966, he worked as the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of National Education. Between 1966 and 1970, he worked as the press advisor of the Union of Chambers of Turkey, and between 1970 and 1977, he worked as the general secretary of the Turkish Petroleum Foundation, which he also founded. He passed away on October 5, 1977. He is buried in the Erenköy Sahrayıcedit Cemetery. His collection, donated to ISAM Library by his son Ali Gemuhluoğlu, contains 847 volumes of books and 455 issues of 17 journals. The majority of the works are in Turkish and focus on literature and social sciences.

For more information about him, see the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam.

Hüseyin Cahit Öztelli (1910-1978)
Born in 1910 in Erzincan, he graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Language and History-Geography, Department of Turkish Language and Literature. An educator, folklorist, and historian of folk literature, Öztelli served as the founding director of the National Folklore Institute established within the Ministry of National Education in 1966. He made strides to institutionalize folklore studies in Türkiye. He wrote hundreds of articles on folklore, the history of Turkish folk literature, and especially minstrel literature. He also assumed important duties at the Turkish Language Association. He died on February 24, 1978 in Ankara. His valuable collection of around a thousand works of Turkish folk literature in Turkish was donated to the ISAM Library in 2017 by his son Doğan Öztelli. The collection also includes Öztelli’s personal archive documents consisting of his working notes and articles.

Suphi Saatçi (1946-)
Born in 1946 in Kirkuk, he completed his primary and secondary education in his hometown before graduating from the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts (1969). He completed his doctorate at Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Restoration in 1992. In 1995, he became an associate professor before advancing to be in 2002. On February 1, 2011, he was appointed as the vice rector of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. In 2013, he retired from this post due to old age. He moved to Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University Faculty of Architecture and Design in October 2014 and was appointed as the head of the Department of Architecture, where he remains a faculty member.

His collection includes 990 volumes of books and 430 issues of seven journals. The majority of the works, mostly in Turkish, English, and Turkmen, focus on literature, art, architecture, and Iraqi Turkmens.

İsmail Otar (1911-2005)
Born in Bursa in 1911, he graduated from the Istanbul Higher School of Economics and Commerce in 1935. He worked as an accountant and accounting specialist. He is one of the important figures of the Crimean national cause in Turkey. He published many articles and books during his life. He is one of the founders of Emel Turkish Culture Research and Promotion Foundation. He passed away on October 28, 2005. His books were donated to ISAM Library by his daughter Bilge Bostan (Otar) in March 2007.

The collection of 774 volumes of books and 2,930 issues of 126 journals, with a focus on history, social sciences, and literature, includes works from various languages and Turkish dialects. His personal archive collection, which includes all kinds of academic studies, newspapers, newspaper clippings, work files, and certificates related to the Turkestan region, especially Crimea, is also included in his donations.

Abdullah Uçman (1951-)
He graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Turkish Language and Literature in 1972. He worked as a librarian in the same department between 1974 and1978). In 1976, he served on the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Turkish Language and Literature. He became Mehmet Kaplan’s assistant at the New Turkish Literature Chair of Istanbul University Faculty of Literature in 1978. He completed his doctorate at the same faculty in 1981. In 1996, he became an associate professor before advancing to professor in 2002. Between 2006 and 2008, he served on the Repertory Board of Istanbul City Theaters. Since 1984, he has been working as a faculty member and head of the department of Turkish Language and Literature at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences. He worked as a proofreader of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam project. His collection of around 850 volumes is mostly in Turkish, with an emphasis on Turkish language, literature, and history. The collection of documents belonging to Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı, a philosopher, poet, and politician who lived in the last years of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic, was transferred to the ISAM Library by Abdullah Uçman on July 16, 2016.

Cüneyd Kosal (1931-2018)
He was born in 1931 in the Sultanahmet Akbıyık neighborhood of Istanbul in a house very close to Dede Efendi’s house. Since his primary school years, he was encouraged by his environment because he had a beautiful voice. In his last year of high school, he was able to play the songs he knew with his kanun instrument. He is an important kanun player and composer who grew up in the last periods of classical Turkish music. He has the title of the largest collector in his field with his extensive archive of sheet music that he meticulously compiled for 65 years. During his university years, while he was a vocalist in for the Üsküdar Music Society, he became one of the instrumentalists when Nevzat Atlığ, the choirmaster of the university, learned that he could play the kanun (zither). From this date, Kosal quit his vocal career and concentrated on playing the kanun.

After this period, although he concentrated on his individual activities, he performed many instrumental works in Turkey and abroad with the “Classical Turkish Instruments Quintet,” which he formed with his instrumental friends to play unperformed works. In 1991, during and after the establishment of the Istanbul Historical Turkish Music Ensemble, which was planned to be established by the Ministry of Culture, he continued his duties as assistant general director, coach, and instrumentalist until his retirement in 1996. Cüneyd Kosal wrote 84 works in different maqāms (melodies), as well as several published hymn books. His comprehensive collection of sheet music and booksis one of the most extensive in Türkiye. The Cüneyd Kosal Archive is the richest Turkish music sheet music archive in the country with 150,000 pieces of sheet music. The music archive and library collected by Cüneyd Kosal over 65 years was transferred to the ISAM Library in 2010 as part of a project of the Classical Turkish Music Directorate of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. The archive contains 182 manuscript notebooks and retail copies of sheet music. The collection also includes 478 books and journals on Turkish music.

Click here for more information about the collection.

Fakhr al-Dīn Qabāve (1933-)

Born in Aleppo in 1933, he graduated from Damascus University, Faculty of Literature in 1958. He completed his master’s degree in ancient Arabic literature in 1964 and his doctorate in 1966 at Cairo University. In 1972, he became an assistant professor and a professor in 1977. He traveled to the United Arab Emirates and China for research during his career. In 1989, he taught ancient Arabic literature, grammar, and spelling at the Imam Muhammad Islamic University in Saudi Arabia. In 1992, he returned to his post at the University of Aleppo. In addition to his articles and books in the field of Arabic language, he has many edited editions. In 2021, he donated his rich collection of around 1,170 works on Arabic language and literature to the ISAM Library.