Fatih Altaylı's harsh reaction to those targeting İlber Ortaylı: 'When you look at those taking shots at İlber...'

Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı, who had been battling health issues for some time, passed away yesterday at the age of 78 in the hospital where he was receiving treatment.

Journalist Fatih Altaylı reacted to those speaking ill of the famous historian following his death.

Speaking on the program "Görkemli Hatırlar" (Magnificent Memories) with Serhan Asker on Halk TV, Altaylı said the following:

"I am reading what is being written here and there after his death. Such immoral slanders, saying he was an elitist. Being an elitist is something else; yes, İlber was an elitist, but he was an elitist who was at peace with society.

He had no attitude of condemning, belittling, or looking down on anyone. The only thing he looked down on was ignorance, or rather, he was angry at the audacity of ignorance. His issue was with those who were unaware of their own ignorance and acted arrogantly.

Look at who is speaking ill of him today. The fringes of every segment. The extreme ends of the political or religious spectrum are cursing and swearing at him.

'WHO ARE YOU?'

Yesterday I read an academic—it would take a thousand witnesses to call him an academic—he has no presence, no body of work. He wrote whatever came to his mouth about İlber. He wanted to be part of a research group on the Balkans, and İlber told him, 'Do you know any of the Balkan languages?' When he said 'no,' İlber said, 'Don't waste my time.'

He is very right. İlber's view is this: if you are going to do research, you must know the language of that research; otherwise, you cannot do research, you just do translation. That is why the man is spewing hatred at İlber, writing all these things. Who are you? When you look at those taking shots at İlber, they have no body of work, not the slightest thing to leave behind.

They stand up and criticize İlber today, and it pains me so much. İlber is a man respected by the world today. When Queen Elizabeth came, it was İlber who showed the Queen around Turkey.

He was one of the magnificent men whose numbers have been dwindling in Turkey recently. We, as a society, heard from him just how shameful ignorance actually is.

There was no end to chatting with him, getting ideas, getting information, and learning new things. At any moment, something completely different would emerge from within him. I had a very hard time convincing İlber to go on television and talk about these things.

They call İlber a historian now. İlber is not just a historian; that is one of his million traits. İlber was a man of culture, one of those we call a scholar.

I am not sure if there is even one more person in Turkey after İlber who possesses such deep knowledge on so many subjects."