Ambassador Prof. Dr. Derya ÖRS

Derya Örs, born in Konya in 1966, completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Akşehir and Konya. He received his B.A. in Persian Language and Literature from Ankara University at the Faculty of Language, History and Geography. On March 3, 1990, he worked as a research assistant in the same department.

He defended his master’s thesis on Ilkhanid history titled “Kâşânî, Târîh-i Olcaytu (Review-Translation)” on October 21, 1992, and his doctoral dissertation on Akkoyunlu history titled “Fazlullah b. Rûzbihân-i Huncî and Târîh-i Âlem-ârâ-yi Emînî’si (Review-Persian Text Transcription-Translation)” on January 12, 1999.

After completing his training as a reserve officer candidate student at Polatlı Artillery and Missile School Command, he performed his military service as a teacher and translator between March 1999 and July 2000 as a reserve officer at the Persian Department of Turkish Land Forces Command Language School in Küçükyalı, Istanbul.

On March 13, 2002, he was appointed as an assistant professor; on April 16, 2002, he became an associate professor; on April 25, 2010, he became a professor. And on January 13, 2011, he was appointed as the founding dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Yıldırım Beyazıt University, which was established as the fifth state university in Ankara. Following this duty for about two years, he served as the President of Atatürk Supreme Council for Culture, Language and History between November 3, 2012, and January 14, 2019, and in the meantime, he was a member of the Yunus Emre Foundation Board of Trustees (2014-2017) and a member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences Turkish Islamic Science Series Editorial Board (2016-2018). Since January 15, 2019, Derya Örs served as the Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Tehran until March 1, 2023. On June 26, 2023, he was reappointed as the President of the Atatürk Supreme Council for Culture, Language and History. Derya Örs, who has supervised many master thesis and doctoral dissertations throughout his academic life, has served as a referee and editorial board member in some national and international academic journals in oriental studies and social sciences. He has published numerous articles, books, encyclopedia articles, and scientific papers in Persian Language and Literature.

At the same time, he is one of the founders and editors of Nüsha Journal of Oriental Studies  (2001-), which was established to publish in oriental studies. He contributed to the courses “Mevlana’dan Gazel Okumaları (Ghazal Readings from Mevlana)” (2004-2011) at the Mevlana Research Association in Ankara and “Mesnevi Şerhi (Commentary of Mesnevi-Mystical Poems of Mevlana)” (2005-2011) at Turkish Authors’ Association.

Derya Örs has focused on classical and contemporary Persian language and literature, Iranian history, manuscript text publication, manuscript cataloging, historical and contemporary Persian-Turkish dictionary writing, Ottoman Turkish dictionary writing, Arabic script Turkish literature, and history books. He has studied especially Konya and Mevlana and his works. He prepared the Persian text of “Mesnevi-i Manevî” with Prof. Dr. Adnan Karaismailoğlu (2006) and translated the Mesnevi (6 Volumes, 2007) into Turkish with Prof. Dr. Hicabi Kırlangıç.

He was awarded the TURKSOY (The International Organization of Turkic Culture) 25th Anniversary Medal for his outstanding services to the Turkic world and was awarded an “Honorary Doctorate” by the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in 2016 for his contributions to the development of Azerbaijan-Türkiye friendship, and was elected as an Honorary Member of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2020.

In addition to his academic studies, he prepared and presented programs for TRT (The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) called Dürr-i Meknun (2014-2015, 25 episodes), which includes conversations on classical Turkish literature, and Gönül Yolu (2016-2017, 13 episodes), which focuses on the Turkish-Islamic presence in nine Balkan countries.

Derya Örs is married with two children and speaks Persian and English.