Elias Kolovos is Research Director with a specialization in Ottoman History at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in Athens, Greece. He is the elected Secretary of the Board of the International Association for Ottoman Social and Economic History. In the past, he served as Professor in Ottoman History at the Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Letters, University of Crete, serving also as the Director of the M.A. in Ottoman History Programme of the same Department. He has written, edited, and coedited 20 books and over 80 papers in Greek and international publications and journals. His research interests include the Mediterranean economic history, the history of the insular worlds, the history of the frontiers, rural and environmental history, as well as the spatial history and legacies of the Ottoman Empire. His selected publications include Across the Aegean: Islands, Monasteries and Rural Societies in the Ottoman Greek Lands (The Isis Press, Istanbul, 2018); Ottoman Rural Societies and Economies (Editor, Crete University Press, Rethymno, 2015); Monastic Economy Across Time: Wealth Management, Patterns, and Trends (Co-editor, Centre for Advanced Studies, Sofia, 2021); Understanding the Greek Revolution (1821–1832): New Approaches in Social, Political and Cultural History (coeditor, Brill, Leiden 2024); “The Fortress and the Town of Rhodes According to the Ottoman Survey After the Siege of 1522”, in Simon Phillips (ed), The 1522 Siege of Rhodes: Causes, Course and Consequences, Routledge, London 2022.

“As an Ottomanist historian whose academic and social life spans both modern Greece and Turkey, I’m used to encountering the shared traces of our Ottoman past. But even so, I was recently struck by something truly unexpected—one more living legacy from the centuries of our intertwined history, quietly continuing its work: the foundation of Hafız Ahmet Ağa, still operating across borders, with deep roots in both Istanbul and the island of Rhodes.

To my astonishment, this Ottoman-era vakıf (pious foundation) not only survives but continues to function in the present day, bridging two countries and cultures that once formed a single imperial landscape. And to my delight, I discovered through a dear friend, Cengiz Aktar, that someone who became also a dear friend, Tarık Tüten, is now at the helm of this remarkable institution, guiding it through its modern incarnation.

It’s rare enough to study the Ottoman Empire as an academic subject—but rarer still to witness it in motion today, not as an abstract object of research, but as a living mechanism of dialogue and mutual care. What a privilege to see the broader Ottoman heritage, the very subject of my scholarly work, reappear not in a museum or a ‘difficult heritage’ case but as a platform for conversation, cooperation, and friendship between colleagues, a true ‘safe space’ across national lines.

History is not always behind us. Sometimes, it walks beside us.”

Elias Kolovos