Talat Halman (1931–2014)

Prof. Talât Sait Halman was a poet, translator and cultural historian. Notably, he was the first ever Turkish Minister of Culture in 1971. Professor Halman was born in Istanbul in 1931. He graduated from Robert College in Istanbul. In the mid-1950s, he received his Master’s Degree from Columbia University in Political Science, International Relations and International law. During his long and on-going academic career, he has taught at Columbia University, Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania and New York University, where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures. Latterly he was Dean of Humanities and letters at Bilkent University.