Üsküdar Üniversitesi Career Center Department organized an event titled “Future Talks: A Discussion on Ancient Turkish History.” Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl attended the event as a guest speaker.
Student interest was high in the event held at Üsküdar Üniversitesi South Campus E Block Socrates Hall. Faculty academics also attended the event.
The event was moderated by Semra Gül, Assistant Manager of Sector Collaborations at the Career Center Department.
Attention was drawn to the traces left by Turkish history across a wide geography
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl, a faculty member of the History Department at Yeditepe Üniversitesi Faculty of Arts and Sciences, spoke about the traces left by Turkish history across a wide geography and the importance of historical migration movements. Taşağıl said: “When we look at Eastern Europe, we encounter large waves of migration from West Central Asia every century. These migrations are not limited to population mobility; they also carry linguistic, cultural, traditional, and political influences. Therefore, the place of Turks in European history should be evaluated not only in military or political dimensions but also through socio-cultural effects. All Turkish communities living today, whether in Türkiye, the Altai Mountains, or Manchuria, are part of a thousands-year-old historical process and a common past. Various documents, especially Chinese sources, reveal the cultural and political ties between these communities. These documents are among the strongest pillars that help us understand how the Turkic world was shaped in the past, as well as documenting the ties between today's Turkic communities.”
“The main issue is reaching accurate information…”
Emphasizing the necessity of reaching accurate information and building a solid understanding of history, Taşağıl said: “Today, interest in history is gratifying on one hand, but on the other, it can turn into a situation that brings with it information pollution. The most fundamental issue here is reaching accurate information and building a solid historical understanding upon it. Of course, we can have our individual interpretations and ideas, but as historians, our duty should be to access the correct source, understand it, and produce accurate information from it.”
After the questions were answered, a certificate of appreciation was presented to Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl.
The event concluded with a group photo.