Ekmeleddin Mehmet İhsanoğlu (Turkish pronunciation: [ecmeledˈdin ihˈsanoːɫu]; born 26 December 1943) is a Turkish chemistry and science history professor, academician, diplomat and politician who was Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) from 2004 to 2014. He is also an author and editor of academic journals and advocate of intercultural dialogue.
İhsanoğlu studied science at the Ain Shams University, where he received his BSc in 1966. He remained in Cairo and obtained his MSc in 1970 from Al-Azhar University. İhsanoğlu received his PhD from the Faculty of Science at the Ankara University in 1974. İhsanoğlu's academic work has focused on the history of scientific activity and institutions of learning within Islam, cultural exchanges between Islam and the West, the relationship between science and religion, and the development of science in its socio-cultural environment.
İhsanoğlu was the founder of the Department of History of Science at the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul University, and he remained the chairman of that department between 1984 and 2003. He was also a lecturer and a visiting professor at various universities, including Ankara University, University of Exeter, United Kingdom (1975–1977), Inönü University in Malatya (1970–1980), and LMU Munich in Germany (2003).
After taking the office as the ninth Secretary General of the OIC in January 2005, İhsanoğlu coordinated the drafting and implementation of a reform program for the OIC aiming to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the 57-member Organisation. The reform program's components included the "Ten-Year Programme of Action to Face the Challenges of Twenty-first Century" (later implemented by the Third Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference in 2005) and a revised OIC Charter which was adopted by the OIC at the Eleventh Islamic Summit Conference in 2008. İhsanoğlu was one of the signatories of A Common Word, an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders that called for peace and understanding.
İhsanoğlu was announced as the joint candidate of the two opposition parties in the Turkish parliament, the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), for the 2014 presidential election. He was also supported by 11 other smaller opposition parties. He lost in the first round with 38.44% of the votes. In the June 2015 general election, İhsanoğlu was elected as Member of Parliament for the MHP for İstanbul's 2nd electoral district. He was the MHP's candidate to become the Speaker of Parliament in the June–July 2015 speaker elections, but he was eliminated in the third round. Then he became a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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Early life
İhsanoğlu was born Ekmellettin Muhammet İhsan to madrasa professor İhsan Efendi, hailing from Yozgat, and Seniye Hanım. Seniye Hanım was the daughter of Rhodian Turkish parents. İhsanoğlu was born in Cairo, Egypt.
Academic career
Prof. İhsanoğlu has been a pioneering figure in the history of science, especially of science in the Muslim world. He has worked on three main subjects since late 70's.
The first is the scientific activities of the 14th–19th centuries, which are considered outside the scope of the Golden Age of Islam.
The second is the introduction of the modern science and technology to the Muslim world and the attitude of the Muslim scholars.
The third is the history of institutions of science in Islam.
With Prof. Celal Tüzün, İhsanoğlu founded the Research Institute for Organic Chemistry when he was a faculty member at the Faculty of Science of the University of Ankara. İhsanoğlu is the founder and first chair (1984–2000) of the first Department of History of Science in Turkey, which he established at the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul University.
The scholarly positions he filled include visiting professor at LMU Munich in Germany, 2003; lecturer and associate professor at Ankara University, Faculty of Science, Turkey 1970–1980; and research fellow at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Exeter, United Kingdom 1975–1977. At the very beginning of his career İhsanoğlu was lecturer of Turkish Literature and Language at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, 1966–1970; research assistant at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, 1966–1970; and part-time cataloger of printed and manuscript Ottoman books, Cairo National Library, Department of Oriental Catalogues, Egypt, 1962–1966.
Prof. İhsanoğlu supervised many international projects sponsored by UNESCO and IRCICA; Master and PhD thesis's on History of Science. His publications and academic activities were appreciated by many international awards. Among them Koyré Medal in History of Science given by the International Academy of the History of Science (Paris, 2008) and Kuwait Foundation For The Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), Golden Medal and KFAS shield Award for Arabic and Islamic Scientific Heritage, 2021.
Diplomatic career
In the 1970s, İhsanoğlu took part in Turkey's various diplomatic and cultural missions and committees formed for conducting international consultations or talks at bilateral and multilateral levels.
İhsanoğlu was the founding Director General of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture IRCICA. an intergovernmental research centre and subsidiary organ of the OIC. When IRCICA started its activities in 1980, it was the first international organization established in Istanbul. İhsanoğlu as the head of diplomatic mission in this organization and as a cultural diplomat has served more than twenty-four years in promoting intercultural dialogue, relations, tolerance and understanding.
İhsanoğlu participated in various projects, activities and committees of UNESCO, and acted as the project director and editor of UNESCO's Work on Various Aspects of Islamic Culture, in 1988, published in 2004.
İhsanoğlu was appointed ‘Ambassador at Large’ by the first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegović in 1997 for his services to Bosnia-Herzegovina. He is also serving as ‘Honorary Consul’ of the Gambia since 1990.
İhsanoğlu lived the most significant leap in his diplomatic career in 2004 when he succeeded to win the election for the position of the OIC Secretary General out of three candidates. He has become the first by-vote-elected Secretary General of the OIC.
In his former position, since January 2005, as the Secretary General of the 57-member Organisation, the second largest organisation after the UN, Prof. İhsanoğlu initiated new schemes and strategies of international cooperation with regard to promotion of understanding, tolerance, principles of human rights, democracy, and establishment of dialogue between the OIC's Member States and with other countries and communities of the world.
The Heads of State and Government of the OIC Member States, convened at their 11th Islamic Summit Conference (Dakar, Senegal, March 2008), unanimously decided to renew İhsanoğlu's mandate for another term of office.
Secretary General of the OIC
Within the framework of his mission as Secretary General of OIC, Prof. İhsanoğlu took several initiatives to reform the OIC's agenda and strategies in various fields, with the motto: “modernisation and moderation”. As of his first year in the office, he guided the preparation of the “Ten-Year Programme Of Action To Meet The Challenges Facing The Muslim Ummah In The 21st Century” which was adopted by the OIC Member States at their Extraordinary Summit Conference in Mecca, December 2005. Through this programme and the new Charter of the OIC which was adopted by the Eleventh Summit Conference in March 2008, he introduced the application of some concepts and principles for the first time in the OIC. Thus, for example,
the issue of human rights was introduced to the new Charter of the OIC and the Ten-Year Programme of Action. The new Charter of the OIC stipulates the establishment of an independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights to promote the civil, political, social and economic rights enshrined in the Organisation's covenants and declarations and in universally agreed human rights instruments;
definition of and action to combat the problem of terrorism was introduced to the Ten-Year Programme of Action (Chapter VI on Combating terrorism);
objectives were adopted in the same Programme of Action emphasizing cultural dialogue (Chapter III on “Islam- The religion of moderation and tolerance”).
İhsanoğlu attached importance to increasing the role and effectiveness of the OIC in solving problems and contributing to progress and cooperation among the OIC Member States in various areas of development, including science and technology, transport and communications, tourism, and fostering trade among the Member States, with particular attention to the least developed countries (LDCs) among them.
The achievements realized during his tenure in the field of economic and commercial cooperation is of particular significance. First, he had assigned priority to the entry into force of the cooperation agreements and the statutes of some institutions in the field of economy and trade, pending for signing and ratification. As a result, a number of agreements and statutes which would govern the OIC's ‘Trade Preferential System’, entered into force after completion of the necessary number of ratifying countries. The OIC aims to increase the level of intra-OIC trade up to 20 percent of the OIC total. He has also initiated the OIC cotton programme. to help develop economies of, in particular, the West African Member States of the OIC. A similar program in the domain of tourism was also developed which secured active participation of the OIC Member States. He gave importance to transport projects, such as the ‘Dakar-Port Sudan Railway Project’, the ‘Dushanbe - Mazari Sharif - Herat Railway link’, etc.
Publications
İhsanoğlu has books, articles and papers in different languages on science, history of science, relations between the Muslim world and the Western world, some of which are as follows:
Author, The Ottoman Scientific Heritage (Al-Furqan Foundation, 2023; translated to English by Maryam Patton), Ottoman Scientific Heritage (Al-Furqan Foundation, 2021; translated to Arabic by Majda Makhlouf), both of which are translations of the Turkish original, Osmanlı Bilim Mirası (Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2017)
Author, Studies on Ottoman Science and Culture, Routledge Variorum Collected Studies, 2020
Author, The House of Sciences, Oxford University Press, 2019
Author, co-author and editor, 18 volumes of bio-bibliographies in the series of History of Ottoman Scientific Literature: Astronomy, Mathematics, Geography, Music, Military Arts, Natural and Applied Sciences, Medical Sciences, Astrology, and the classification of sciences.
Editor and co-author, History of the Ottoman State and Civilization (published in Turkish, English, Arabic, Bosnian, Russian, Albanian and Persian).
Author, Science, Technology and Learning in the Ottoman Empire, Ashgate, Variorum, 2004
Editor, The Art of Calligraphy in Islamic Heritage (published in English, Turkish, Arabic, Malay, Japanese);
Editor, Cultural Contributions in building A Universal Civilisation: Islamic Contributions, IRCICA, Istanbul, 2005;
Editor and co-author, UNESCO: The Different Aspects of Islamic Culture, Vol. 5: Culture and Learning in Islam, UNESCO, 2003.
Awards and medals
Kuwait Foundation For The Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), Golden medal and KFAS shield Award for Arabic and Islamic Scientific Heritage, 2021
2015 Peace Award (Ducci Foundation, Rome, Italy), 25 March 2015.
Dr. Ibrahim Rugova's Golden Medal of Peace, Democracy and Humanism, Republic of Kosovo, given by President Atifete Jahjaga on 1 May 2013
"Bangladesh Friendship Medal", highest civilian honor of Bangladesh, conferred by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, 6 May 2013
"Honorary Order of the Yellow Star", highest civilian honor of Suriname, conferred by the Acting President of Suriname Robert L. A. Ameerali, 27 May 2013
"Order of the Nile ” from the President of Arab Republic of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, 2013.
International Peace Award 2011-2012 by Beirut-based International Human Rights Commission's (IHRC) World Chairman and Ambassador at Large Dr. Muhammad Shahid Amin Khan, 23 June 2012
“Al-Idrisi Award” by President Raffaele Lombardo in Palermo, Italy, 15 May 2012
Grand Commandeur Medal by the President of the Republic Gabon, Haj Ali Bongo Odimba, 20 April 2012
Medal "27 June First Class” by Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti on 5 December 2010.
Order of Ismoili Somoni, given by the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, President Emomali Rahmon, 18 May 2010