Initiator and Leader: Berke Çetinkaya
Meeting Times: Every Friday, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: Humanities Building, 5th Floor (check with bcetinkaya@wisc.edu)
The Ottoman Turkish Reading Group is organized by the Karpat Graduate Student Society and led by Berke Çetinkaya, a board member of the society and a Ph.D. student in the Department of History.
This initiative makes a unique contribution to UW–Madison’s academic landscape, as it is currently the only organized activity on campus dedicated to Ottoman Turkish language and paleography.
The primary goal of the group is to foster a scholarly yet welcoming environment for students interested in Ottoman and Turkish Studies, while helping them improve their skills in reading Ottoman Turkish. During meetings, participants read and discuss archival documents; some prior knowledge of Ottoman Turkish is helpful, but not required.
Over the semester, the group engages with texts from various genres and periods. A shared Drive folder has been created to collect and organize participants’ selected documents. The link has been shared with all members to facilitate collaboration and make it easier to access and explore each other’s materials.
Recent and Ongoing Activities
- Fall 2025: Read Ottoman archival documents dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries, written in Rika, Talik, and Divani scripts, along with selected poems by Late Ottoman poet Sefa Bey, pre-selected by participants.
- Fall 2024–Spring 2025: Read Ottoman archival documents from the 16th to the 20th centuries in Rika, Talik, and Divani scripts, focusing on materials directly supporting participants’ research interests.
- Fall 2023–Spring 2024: Explored excerpts from Neşri’s Cihannümâ (17th-century history and geography), Mizancı Murad’s Tarih-i Umumi (early 20th-century world history), and selected texts from late Ottoman journals.
Each semester, a classroom in the Department of History is reserved for the Reading Group’s weekly meetings.
📧 Get in Touch
Interested in improving your Ottoman Turkish, exploring historical documents, or meeting fellow scholars? We warmly welcome your participation.
For more information or to join the group, please contact karpatgradsociety@gmail.com or bcetinkaya@wisc.edu
Ottoman Turkish Reading Group Participants
2025–2026 Academic Year
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- Selenay Aydın (History)
- Berke Çetinkaya (History)
- Duygu Eriten (History)
- Ege Gutay (History)
- Mehmet Hakan Sari (online participant)
- Deniz Yüce (History)
2024–2025 Academic Year
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- Selenay Aydın (History)
- Berke Çetinkaya (History)
- Duygu Eriten (History)
- Mehmet Hakan Sari (Mechanical Engineering)
2023–2024 Academic Year
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- Selenay Aydın (History)
- Berke Çetinkaya (History)
- Duygu Eriten (History)
- Emir Karakaya (History)
- Vedat Gürbüz (Retired Professor of History, invited guest)