CU Turkish Society was established in the 1979-1980 academic year. To establish a society, University regulations required at least one faculty member and five students to submit an application to the University’s Junior Proctor, along with a brief report outlining the society’s purpose and projected activities.
The Faculty representative in this case was Dr Edward Timms of the Department of German Studies and Translations (1965-1992) who was also a Life Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He had connections with Turkey as was apparent from his co-authorship of a book, Romantic Communist: The Life and Work of Nazim Hikmet (Saime Göksu and Edward Timms, Hurst Publishers, 1999).
The President of Turkish Society from 1979 to 1985 was Dr Susan Skilliter, who held the post of lectureship in the university and fellowship of her alma meter, Newnham College Cambridge (1962-1985). She was the author of William Harborne and the Trade with Turkey, 1578-1582 (London: British Academy, 1977), and considered to be the authority on the subject.
The Society Secretary was Arın Bayraktaroğlu (1979-1982) who also served as Lector in the Turkish Department from 1977 to 1982 in the Faculty of Oriental Studies (renamed in 2007 the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) on Sidgwick Avenue. After her lectorship she published extensively, mostly in Turkish.
In its early years Turkish Society had organised talks by Turkey/Turkish specialists based both in the UK and Turkey. Among the speakers were Professor Geoffrey Lewis of Oxford University speaking about “Turkish Language Reform”, Sir Horace Phillips, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Turkey talking about his time in Turkey, Nermin Menemencioğlu on “Turkish Poetry” and Godfrey Goodwin on “Ottoman Architecture.” There were also arts exhibitions held under the auspices of the Turkish Society, by artists including Oğuz Aral, the political cartoonist of a highly popular cartoon magazine, Gırgır, and Yüksel Söylemez, a diplomat and painter.
CU Turkish Society, kurulduğu 1979 yılından bu yana ara ara kapanıp yeniden açılmıştır. 2023 Mart ayında ülkemizi vuran deprem sonrasında, Cambridge’deki Türk öğrenciler olarak hem yardım organize edebileceğimiz hem de bir araya gelebileceğimiz ortak bir platform oluşturmak istedik. Bu nedenle, “bir daha kapanmamak üzere” topluluğumuz 2023 yılında Başkan Mete Karslıoğlu ve o dönemin komitesi tarafından yeniden kuruldu. 2023 ve 2024 yıllarında sayısız etkinlik gerçekleştirildi: Cambridge’de 29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramı kutlamalarından, KKTC Cumhurbaşkanı Ersin Tatar’ın ağırlanmasına. deprem yardım organizasyonlarından Fransız, Romanya, Alman ve İtalyan topluluklarıyla düzenlenen ortak Avrupa etkinliklerine kadar birçok anlamlı faaliyet yürütüldü.
2025 yılında yeni başkanımız Ece Alkan’ın liderliğinde, bu etkinlikler daha da genişletilmekte; topluluğumuzun mezunlar derneği aracılığıyla kalıcı bir kurumsal yapı oluşturulmaktadır.
Cambridge University Turkish Society 