Eminent Ottoman historian Engin Deniz Akarli dies aged 81

One of the world’s leading scholars of Ottoman history, Engin Deniz Akarli, died in his home in Istanbul on Sunday, aged 81.

Professor Akarli’s research focused on the legal, political and economic history of the late Ottoman Empire, as well as the Middle East. His scholarship engaged deeply with neglected areas of research in these fields.

One of his most influential works, The Long Peace: Ottoman Lebanon, 1861-1920 (University of California Press, 1993) challenged Eurocentric narratives on state-building and governance that centre western intervention through a close study of the Mount Lebanon Mutassarifiya (governorate) following the civil war of 1860.