Internationally acclaimed Turkish historian Kemal Karpat died on Feb. 20 in the United States aged 96. Karpat, an expert on the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkish history, was an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had celebrated his 96th birthday on Feb. 15. Professor Karpat taught in Department of History of University of Wisconsin-Madison for 36 years, from 1967 until his retirement in 2003. His research pioneered the study of late Ottoman history, and focused on the rise of ethnic nationalism and Islamic political discourse. He leaves a rich legacy as one of the leading Ottoman historians of his generation.  He also will be remembered for his contributions to the study of Ottoman History in higher education. During his time at UW-Madison, Karpat served as director of the Center for Turkish Studies, and contributed funds to its endowment. Karpat also endowed a professorship in Ottoman and Turkish History, which is currently held by Professor Daniel Stolz.

How did you meet Turkish people and Turkish tea first? Did you know anything about them before then? 
Before coming to Turkey I had little knowledge about the country, its people or customs. I of course knew the basics: that it was a Muslim country located in the Middle East; that the Ottomans ruled there; that it was famous for baths and strong coffee, but that was about it. I had learned, however, much about its art in my university classes. I remember being fascinated as a child by the image of the camel on the pack of Camel cigarettes my father smoked and always asked to play with the pack. I think the first words I ever learned to read were “Turkish Tobacco” which was written in bold on the pack! But I knew nothing about the tea culture: I assumed that all Turks drank Turkish coffee!

American Borate Company (ABC) is a privately held corporation headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia and the Company has marketed borates from Turkey since 1981. ABC has become the largest North American representative of Turkish borates. Jim Sparks, President of American Borate Company has been traveling to Turkey since 1983 for the borate business initially working with Eti Bank, which is now Eti Maden. Jim purchased an air dunnage bag manufacturing operation in city of Amasya. This operation currently employees over 200 people. Since becoming involved in Turkey, his companies have purchased Turkish produced product worth more than 2 billion dollars.

Jeff Engell, lead consultant of the Bilkent Cyberpark Accelerator Program (CAP), Turkey's first fully international accelerator, which was recognized globally by the International Association of Science Parks (IASP) and a recipient of the Inspiring Solutions Award. Engell became involved with Bilkent’s CAP, which has as one of its goals to connect its companies to strategic partners and customers in the U.S.Bilkent Cyberpark is Turkey’s first private Science and Technology Park (STP) established in 2002 by Bilkent University. The cyberpark is large, with about 240 high-tech companies, eight research centers and more than 3,300 R&D personnel. Innosphere, Colorado based company which supports highly motivated entrepreneurs working on innovations, reached out to Bilkent Cyberpark in Ankara, Turkey in a partnership that could potentially bring Turkish startups – and economic activity -- into Colorado. The idea was developed by Jeff Engell, a former Fort Collins resident who moved to Turkey and saw an opportunity to create a Colorado-Turkey connection. Engell answered TURKOFAMERICA’s questions.