Near East University Rector Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan passed away at the age of 80. Having made great contributions to the country’s higher education throughout his service at the Near East University since 1993, Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan has been the Rector of Near East University since 2000.

80-year-old Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan has been receiving treatment at the Near East University Hospital for a while. Prof. Dr. Hassan passed away on Tuesday, January 17, by noon. As a versatile scientist, Ümit Hassan was one of the most distinguished scholars of the Turkish world.

Near East University said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of our Rector and esteemed teacher, versatile scientist Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan. We wish patience and express our deepest condolences to his family, our university and his friends.” Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan’s pass left the Near East Family, students and the Turkish scientific world with great sadness.

Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan will be sent off to his final resting place at the Nicosia cemetery after the ceremony to be held at the Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Center on Wednesday, January 18 at 10:30.

Who is Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan?
Born in 1943 in Istanbul, Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan worked at Ziraat Bank for four years after graduating from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences. His doctoral subject is “Public Law and State Theories”. Prof. Dr. Hassan taught Public Law and State Theories, Islamic and Turkish Intellectual History, Ottoman Economic-Social-Political Structure, History of Political Thoughts at the Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara University between 1969-1984. At the doctoral level, he gave lectures on State Theories, Sources in the History of Islam and Turkish Thought, and Contemporary Doctrines. He received the Sedat Simavi Social Sciences Award in 1985.

Between 1985-1992, he taught History of Civilization, Ottoman Economic-Social-Political Structure, Political Anthropology, History of Islam and Turkish Thought, Fundamentals of the Social and Legal Structure of Europe at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, European Community Center. He carried out the PhD courses on Philosophical Foundations of Political Theories, State Theories, Sources in Islam and Turkish History, History of Turkish Ideas in the 19th-20th Centuries. He wrote many articles on the history of the Turks (starting with the letter ‘K’ in Ana Britannica).

Working for the Near East University in Cyprus since 1993, Prof. Dr. Hassan gave undergraduate and graduate courses on Themes in Post-Constitutional Turkish Poetry, History of Ottoman Social-Political-Legal Structure, History of Law, Foundations of Turkish Foreign Policy, Social-Political Structure in Turkish Novel. He has been working as the Rector of Near East University since 2000. Prof. Dr. Ümit Hassan has many books and articles in the fields of History of Turks, History of Islamic Thought, State Theories and Political Anthropology.