Category Archives: Recent Additions

Last Minute Traffic Information

Dear Participants in the 62nd Annual Meeting,

Ongoing Road Construction Work which was scheduled to be finished on August 16th, 2019, will now continute during our Meeting.

Please check the updated information page with travel information.

Thank you very much for your kind understanding.

Seeing forward to gathering with you at Friedensau soon,

Oliver Corff,
— President —
62nd Annual Meeting of the PIAC
August 18th to 23rd, 2019

Obituary: Gerd Winkelhane (1949 – 2018)

Gerd Winkelhane, November 18, 1949 — September 21, 2018, died after short illness.

Gerd Winkelhane’s relation with the PIAC was of a very special nature. He was not the typical scholar who came to the annual meetings to deliver his paper, have a chat with the PIAC members (and many chats he had) and depart; rather, his contribution was of a different nature. With his specialized scientific publishing house Klaus Schwarz Verlag he published a number of proceedings of the PIAC in recent years, as well as other publications, monographs and collections alike, by PIAC members.

His father had once hoped the young Gerd Winkelhane would follow his career path and become a medical doctor. Indeed, Gerd Winkelhane started studying medicine but abandoned this course and started studying Arabic. Having spent ten years in Yemen, he acquired a degree of fluency with and intimate knowledge of the language which, in combination with his teaching skills, made him a uniquely gifted teacher of the Arabic language, as the writer of these lines can testify from the numerous conversations we enjoyed when stumbling across subjects related to Arabic.

In 1989, Gerd Winkelhane became director of Klaus Schwarz Verlag after the sudden death of the founder, Klaus Schwarz. In many years of dedicated work, Gerd Winkelhane succeeded in developing a scientific publishing house with hundreds of publications covering the fields of Arabic studies, Iranian studies, Islamic studies, Turkology, Ottoman studies and Central Asian studies. Series like Studien zur Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der Türkvölker have grown to comprise dozens of volumes. He was always closely involved in all these publications in various rôles, and more often than not he initiated publishing projects. Driven by genuine curiosity, he kept close contact with virtually all the authors whose works he published; his deep involvement in Turkology and Ottoman studies and his contributions to the field via his publishing activities made him, in the words of the late G. Hazai, a Turkologist honoris causa.

His wit and ease of conversation made him the joyful center of many social gatherings; family, friends and colleagues miss him dearly.

Yet, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

(from: Amazing Grace, sung at the funeral)

Oliver Corff, October 3rd, 2018.

PIAC Prize For Altaic Studies

Dear Reader,

The 61st Annual Meeting of the PIAC witnessed the inauguration of a new PIAC Medal, as the colloquial name goes, in recognition of and succession to the Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies. It was decided during the 60th Meeting of the PIAC Székesfehérvár (Hungary), 2017, that the PIAC now endows its own medal, baptized The PIAC Prize for Altaic Studies.

This medal is cast in sterling silver, features an artistic rendering of the famous PIAC logo and was created by German sculptor Frank Förster to whom we express our deepest appreciation for his outstanding work.

The procedure of finding a suitable candidate for the medal is conducted in time-honoured fashion by a medal committee which consists, ex officio, of Secretary General and President of the PIAC, and three members annually chosen by secret ballot during the business meeting.

The first recipient of the new PIAC Medal is Dieter Maue (Germany).

Oliver Corff, Bishkek, August 30, 2018.

Proceedings of 58th Annual Meeting, 2015 Available

Dear Reader,

During the Confessions of the 61st Annual Meeting of the PIAC, Mihály Dobrovits, President of the 58th Annual Meeting of the PIAC, held in Dunajská Streda (Slovakia) 6 – 11 September 2015, announced that the Proceedings of said Meeting are now available. They were published in Türk Dilleri Araştırmaları 28, 2018. The homepage of the journal invites readers to preview in two portions: 28-1 covers the first nine articles, 28-2 covers another seven articles.

Oliver Corff, Bishkek, August 30, 2018.

Opening Ceremony of the 61st Annual Meeting of the PIAC

The Opening Ceremony of the 61st Annual Meeting of the PIAC took place on Monday, August 27, at the splendid setting of the State Residence of the Kyrgyz Republic, No. 1, under the most benevolent blue sky.

The President of Kyrgyz Republic, Jeenbekov Sooronbay, gave the welcome speech on behalf of the Kyrgyz Republic, followed by Darkhan Kydyraly, President of the International Turkic Academy (Kazakhstan), and the Secretary General of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference, Prof. Dr. Barbara Kellner-Heinkele.

Besides the long-standing family of PIAC members, this meeting gathered a large number of regional scholars, and with approx. 180 participants, this year’s meeting is certainly one of the biggest in the history of the PIAC.

Altaic studies in general and the PIAC in particular enjoy a high reputation in Kyrgyzstan; not only the opening of the conference, but also the following academical activities were extensively covered by national and international media, e.g. the BBC’s Kyrgyz service.

Oliver Corff, August 29th, 2018, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Previous Meetings: Report of 28th Meeting Venice 1985 now available

Dear Reader,

Not all information relevant to the PIAC appears in the same place. Historically, there was never something like a central repository of all things PIAC. In the case of the 28th Meeting which had been held in Venice in 1985, the editor’s attention had only recently been guided to the Report of the 28th Meeting, written by Ádám Molnár and published by the Acta Orientalia of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1988.

The PIAC Newsletter No. 16, August 1986, in contrast, has a short summary.

Oliver Corff, July 19th, 2018.