By Hambersom Aghbashian
Selim Deringil (born Ottawa, 1951) is a Turkish academic and professor of history at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. He earned his doctorate from the University of East Anglia in 1979 and joined Boğaziçi University the same 
year ( The University of East Anglia -UEA- is a research-intensive public university located in the city of Norwich, England ). He is a notable lecturer on Late Ottoman History, Ottoman Islam and relationships between Ottomans and Europe. He has lectured in the United States, England, France, Lebanon and Israel. He has written several essays on the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the history of the Republic of Turkey. His book “The Well-Protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1909” was awarded the “Turkish Studies Association Fuad Köprülü” prize in 2001.(1)
According to http://outlookaub.com, “Selim Deringil is a Howell Chair visiting professor at the History Department from the Bogazici University where he is a full-time faculty member. He has held various academic positions in U.S., Britain and France, where he has taught late Ottoman History. Deringil is one of the few Turkish historians who openly accept the Armenian Genocide.”(2)
Presenting his analysis of Turkish- Armenian relations at Bosporus University in Istanbul, Prof. Selim Deringil said, “This was the most difficult paper I have ever written in my life.” “Venturing into the Armenian crisis is like wandering into a minefield.” (www.hr-action.org, 15 May 2000). (3)
According to www.topix.com (April 1, 2010), under the head line (Selim Deringil, Turkish Historian Affirms Armenian Genocide),it mentioned that a prominent Turkish historian told Taraf newspaper in an interview published days before, that “the Young Turks planned to annihilate the entire Armenian population.” Historian Selim Deringil told Taraf that there was also a distinction between the aims of the Young Turks and their predecessor Sultan Abdul Hamid at the turn of the 19th century.(4)
During 25-27 May 2005, the first conference on the Armenian Issue was organized in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference was organized at Boğaziçi University. Selim Deringil was one of the chair persons and participated with his research “Archives and the Armenian Question: “Grabbing the Document by the Throat”(5). Asbarez.com mentioned that “According to organizers–the time has come–ninety years after 1915–that “this tragic event in the history of our country–for Turkey’s own academics and intellectuals to collectively raise their voices that differ from that of the official [state] theses and put forth their own contributions. (6)
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1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selim_Deringil
2- http://outlookaub.com/2013/03/12/faculty-profile-selim-deringil-visiting-professor/
3- http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Selim-Deringil/694724929
4- http://www.topix.com/forum/world/armenia/THHTJ79VS5UIL0F6K
5- http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h turk&month =0505&msg =OhUMtrurxCUxe4jj4FVlKg
6- http://asbarez.com/52201/first-conference-on-the-armenian-issue-organized-in-turkey/
Also Published on
Nor Or, No 16, April 17, 2014