Dear Academic and Administrative Staff, Cherished Students, and Esteemed Stakeholders;

As Balıkesir University, our fundamental mission is to produce original knowledge in accordance with universal scientific standards, to enrich this knowledge by placing it at the heart of our educational processes, and to offer all academic achievements for the benefit of society. Moving beyond the mere production of academic data, this perspective aims to disseminate scientific reasoning skills across society, educate highly competent individuals, and establish a permanent institutional research culture. Every research, application, and educational activity within our university is regarded as a mutually reinforcing building block, and a vision of continuous development is pursued to further elevate the quality of this holistic approach.

In this context, the production of high-quality knowledge, which constitutes the foundation of our University’s educational philosophy, guides all academic activities of the Balıkesir University Ottoman Heritage Application and Research Center. In alignment with our university’s general educational vision, our Center accepts it as a primary responsibility to analyze historical accumulation through a scientific approach and to provide an academic perspective for the future by interpreting contemporary issues through this heritage. As a scientific research center, our core academic objective is the objective and data-driven examination of Ottoman institutions, its multi-layered social structure, and its rich intellectual legacy. These investigations are not limited to the discipline of history alone but are conducted with interdisciplinary depth at the intersection of various fields such as law, economics, literature, tourism, sociology, and art history. As an integral part of this understanding, our Center addresses the rich heritage of the Ottoman Empire, which spanned three continents, across a wide spectrum ranging from politics to art, and from law to the culture of foundations. Our academic goals are focused on the accurate analysis of this ancient heritage on local, national, and international scales.

Our students, who represent the greatest value of our university, stand at the focal point of the activities conducted by our Center. In line with our student-oriented approach, we aim to involve not only students from the history department but also young people from every discipline of the social sciences in our research. Through the panels, conferences, and seminars we organize, we facilitate the expansion of our students' academic horizons and provide them with the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in the field and in the light of primary documents. Through these events organized to support their academic development, we place great importance on helping them grasp scientific methodology and acquire the identity of a "young researcher." In other words, our ultimate priority is to raise individuals who have internalized the historical identity of the lands they live upon, developed analytical thinking skills, and are equipped with national and moral values.

Another fundamental axis upon which our Center bases its activities is the principle of “social contribution.” With the awareness that academic institutions are not structures independent of the social fabric and local dynamics, as the Balıkesir University Ottoman Heritage Application and Research Center, we present the historical depth, pioneering role, and position of Balıkesir in Ottoman geopolitics to the public through scientific platforms. Bringing the primary outputs of our academic studies together with social benefit is one of the priority goals of our center. By examining the historical process of Balıkesir—a city of the Kuva-yı Milliye—from the National Struggle period to the Ottoman administrative and economic organization through scientific methods, we aim to contribute to the preservation of local memory. In this framework, our university serves as a bridge, ensuring that the knowledge produced is not confined to academic circles but is shared with the public, enhancing social awareness, and protecting cultural values. With the contributions of our stakeholders represented in our Advisory Board, we strive to fulfill our academic responsibility in protecting and promoting the cultural heritage of our city. In this direction, the collaborations we have established with local governments and non-governmental organizations are a concrete reflection of our goal to bring the scientific accumulation of our university together with social awareness and cultural development.

In the execution of its institutional activities, our Center adopts the quality standards and institutional identity sensitivities of our university as its fundamental guide. In line with the vision of establishing an interdisciplinary research ecosystem, we consider the methodological collaboration of experts from different disciplines such as history, philology, tourism, economics, fine arts, and law as a strategic priority. Our primary objective is to carry out our research on historical heritage with meticulous care, combining the visionary perspective of our university with the specialized field of our center, within the framework of scientific discipline and academic sensitivity.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all our academic and administrative staff, especially our Rectorate, for their unwavering support on this path, as well as to our dear students with whom we share our academic goals, and to all our stakeholders who strengthen the social impact of our center.

Respectfully,

Assoc. Prof. Serap SUNAY Director of the Ottoman Heritage Application and Research Center