Thomas Zimmermann Elected Scientific Board Member for German-Turkish Academics Association

Assoc. Prof. Thomas Zimmermann, Department of Archaeology, was recently elected scientific board member of the German-Turkish Academics Association at Göttingen (Deutsch-Türkischer Akademikerbund Göttingen, DTAB). Amongst the prominent and internationally renowned board members are geologist Prof. Dr. Celal Şengör, historian Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı, economist Prof. Dr. Şevket Pamuk and Turcologist Prof. Dr. Klaus Röhrborn. The formal election was preceded by Dr. Zimmermann’s lecture on Göbekli Tepe and its uses and abuses in popular media, delivered at the Department of Prehistory of Georg-August University Göttingen. The roots of the DTAB, which was re-established in 2018, go back to 1937, when famous Turkish mathematician Cahit Arf studied with Helmut Hasse at Göttingen. Arf established the first bridge between German and Turkish academicians after his promotion in 1939. The primary goals of the DTAB are to foster academic exchange between German and Turkish scholars, organize lectures and workshops with distinguished speakers and, especially, guide Turkish students during their university education and early academic career. The current president of the DTAB, Mr. Cenk Sancak, a Göttingen graduate in the fields of Turcology and Political Science, expressed his gratitude for Dr. Zimmermann’s acceptance of a position on the board: “Dr. Zimmermann’s contributions to archaeology are widely recognized amongst the German and Turkish speaking scientific communities, so it is a pleasure and honor for us to welcome him as a board member, even more so since he is based at such a distinguished university as Bilkent.” Sancak also expressed of Dr. Zimmerman that “his expertise will allow us to broaden the spectrum of future events hosted and supported by our association.” The activities of the DTAB can be followed at https://www.dtab-goettingen.de/