Stefanos Yerasimos

Historian (B. 29^th Jaunary 1942, Istanbul – D. 20^th July 2005, Paris) He completed his primary, secondary and higher education in Istanbul. He graduated from the Department of Architecture, Academy of Fine Arts, Istanbul University (1966). Having done post graduate in Istanbul University, he went to Paris to study urbanism. He did two theses, one on Azgelişmişlik Sürecinde Türkiye (1976) and the other one on Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nda Gezginler (1986) at Paris-Sorbonne University.  He was promoted to professorship in 1989 at the Department of Urbanism, Paris University where he started to work as lecturer in 1972.

Between the years of 1980 and 1985, Yerasimos compiled the texts of travelers, who visited the east, especially Turkey, in Paris. As a result of this work, he composed a twelve volume set consisting of Marco Polo, İbn Battuta, J-B. Tavernier, J Thévenot, J.P. de Tournefort and J. Nicolas de Nicolay’s texts. In 1989, he published the itinerary of Nicolas de Nicolay. “Les voyageurs dans l’Empire Ottoman”, which is about travelers who had been to Ottoman in the 14^th, 5^th and 16^th centuries, was published in French by Turkish Historical Society. In his last years, he lectured at Sabancı University.

Yerasimos, who worked at French Institute for Anatolian Studies in Istanbul in the position of chairman during the time between 1994 and 1999, did researches on Ottoman Empire and Turkey and also published his studies. Particularly, he gained a reputation for his three volumes set research, Azgelişmişlik Sürecinde Türkiye and his books Ekim Devrimi’nden “Millî Mücadele”ye Türk-Sovyet İlişkileri and he is also known for his studies on Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey. He resumed his studies at the University of Paris VIII. He had almost one-hundred articles on various topics, particularly on geopolitics and history of cities.

WORKS:

Kostantiniye ve Ayasofya Efsaneleri (1993), Milliyetler ve Sınırlar (1994), İstanbul 1914-1923 (1996),  Türkiye´de Sivil Toplum ve Milliyetçilik. Azgelişmişlik Sürecinde Türkiye (3 volumes, 1974-77; recent edition 2001, translated by Babür Kuzucu), Ekim Devrimi’nden “Millî Mücadele”ye Türk-Sovyet İlişkileri (1979), Les voyageurs dans l’Empire Ottoman (1991), A la table du Grand Turc (Büyük Türk’ün Sofrasında, illustrations by Belkıs Taşkeser, 2001), Sultan Sofraları 15. ve 16. Yüzyılda Osmanlı Saray Mutfağı (2002), Süleymaniye (translated by Alp Tümertekin, photographs: Ara Güler - Samih Rıfat, 2002).

REFERENCE: Büyük Larousse (c. 20, s. 12530, 1986), İhsan Işık / Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) – Ünlü Bilim Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013). Defne Gürsoy / Stefanos Yerasimos çalışmalarına bir yenisini daha ekledi, biz de onunla konuştuk - Fatih Sofrasına yolculuk (Cumhuriyet Kitap, 23.5.2002), Güler Emektar-Filiz Karaata Stefanos Yerasimos, Sinan’ın ihtişam simgesi yapısına bakıyor - Süleymaniye (Cumhuriyet Kitap, 6.6.2002), Günümüz Türkiyesi’nde Kim Kimdir (2002).