Credits and Authors

Credits

"Celebrating the Life of Ismail Bey Gaspirali, 1851-1914" is presented by the International Committee for Crimea, Washington, DC. The Web project is a part of a number of activities planned in 2001 to observe the 150th anniversary of Gaspirali's birth, both in Crimea and Turkey. Another Web site, sponsored by the Emel Foundation in Istanbul, Ismail Bey Gaspıralı, 150 Yaşında includes articles and related information in Turkish.

The following individuals have assisted with the different aspects of this Web project:

Kemal Altintas, Bilkent University, Ankara.
Yakup Appazov, The Gasprinski Museum, Bahçesaray, Crimea.
Timur Berk, Istanbul University, Istanbul.
Giray Saynur Bozkurt, Marmara University, Istanbul.
Ozgur Karahan, Nortel Networks/Netaş, Istanbul.
Zafer Karatay, Emel Foundation, Istanbul.
Alim Memetov, Rebirth of Crimea Foundation, Bahçesaray, Crimea.
Ismail Otar, The Ismail Otar Library, Istanbul.
Metin Tekkalmaz, Bilkent University, Ankara.

Web Presentation and General Coordination: Inci A. Bowman, Washington, DC.

Home Page Illustration: Detail of an oil portrait of Ismail Bey Gaspirali. Courtesy of the American Association of Crimean Tatars, Brooklyn, NY.

Authors

Rizaeddin Kadı Fahreddin (1858-1936). A reform-minded Volga Tatar, Fahreddin was born near Samara in southwest Russia. He taught and served as "Kadı" (a Muslim judge) in Ufa and Orenburg. A contributor to Ismail Bey Gaspirali's newspaper Tercüman, he supported the reform movement among the Russian Muslims. He was the author of a number of literary and historical works, including a biographical dictionary, Asar, and edited an influential bimonthly, Shura, between 1908 and 1918. His long obituary of Gaspirali, which appeared in four installments in Shura, is reproduced here.

Alan W. Fisher. Professor of History, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. A specialist in Ottoman and Russian history, Professor Fisher is the author of The Crimean Tatars (Stanford, 1978), considered the best historical account on the subject. His earlier work, The Russian Annexation of the Crimea, 1772-1783 (Cambridge, 1970), was based on his doctoral dissertation (Columbia University, 1967). Professor Fisher's various articles and book chapters, representing research extending over a period of thirty-five years, appeared in two anthologies: Between Russians, Ottomans and Turks: Crimea and Crimean Tatars (Istanbul, 1998) and A Precarious Balance: Conflict, Trade, and Diplomacy on the Russian-Ottoman Frontier (Istanbul, 1999).

Edward J. Lazzerini. Professor of Russian and Inner Eurasian History, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Professor Lazzerini is a leading authority on Ismail Bey Gaspirali, and his doctoral dissertation, "Ismail Bey Gasprinskii and Muslim Modernism in Russia, 1878-1914," University of Washington, Seattle, 1973, has served as a basis for later studies on the subject. He has published widely on Crimean and Russian history, including a volume, Russia's Orient: Imperial Borderlands and Peoples, 1700-1917 (Bloomington, 1997), which he edited with Daniel R. Brower, and a recent book, The Chinese Revolution (1999). His long-anticipated biography of Ismail Bey Gaspirali will be published next year.

Brian G. Williams. Visiting Professor of Middle Eastern History, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. Dr. Williams received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1999, with a dissertation titled "A Homeland Lost. Migration, the Diaspora Experience and the Forging of Crimean Tatar National Identity." He is the author of a number of journal articles and a forthcoming book, The Crimean Tatars. The Diaspora Experience and the Forging of a Nation (Leiden: E.J. Brill), which will appear in May 2001. Dr. Williams will serve as Kennan Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC, during the academic year 2001-2002.

Mubeyyin Batu Altan. A veteran Crimean Tatar activist, Mr. Altan is President of the International Committee for Crimea, Washington, DC, and Co-founder and Vice President of Crimea Foundation, New York. He edited the Crimean Review (1986-1995) and currently is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Kiev, Ukraine. He lives in North Bethesda, Maryland.

Inci A. Bowman. Executive Secretary of the International Committee for Crimea, Washington, DC. Ms. Bowman received her Ph.D. from Indiana University, Bloomington, in 1975 and served as curator of medical history, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston until 1997. She now lives in Washington, DC, pursuing her long-time interest in Crimean Tatar issues.