The Turkish National Agency (AA) announced that Professor Kemal H. Karpat received the Turkish Grand National Assembly’s highest Parliament Honorary Award of 2009 for his outstanding achievements in the international arena and contributions to Turkish and Ottoman studies.
Professor Karpat is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This prize is the highest honor bestowed in Turkey to successful scholars and scientists.
The award is also significant for the vote in the 550-member parliament was unanimous. Among other candidates for the award were Turkey’s Nobel-winning author Orhan Pamuk, Professor Ilber Ortayli, pianist Fazil Say, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (about 60 member states) Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and Professor Turkan Saylan, late chairwoman of Turkey’s Association for Support of Contemporary Living.
The award was subject to several nationally televised programs and interviews in the major newspapers with Dr. Karpat who was in Turkey at the time of the award.