Rıfat Bali

Born1948 (age 77–78)

Istanbul

OccupationHistorian

Websitehttps://www.rifatbali.com

Rıfat Bali
Bali in 2024
Born	1948 (age 77–78) Istanbul
Occupation	Historian
Website	https://www.rifatbali.com

Rıfat Nesim Bali (born 1948) is a Turkish historian specializing in Jews in Turkey.

Bali was born to a Sephardic family in Istanbul in 1948. After receiving his primary education in a Jewish school, he went to Lycée Français Saint-Michel for secondary school and Saint-Benoit for high school. He graduated from the Sorbonne University Department of Theology in 2001. He is married and has two children.^[1]

Since 1996, he has been conducting research and publishing on topics such as non-Muslim minorities, particularly Jews, antisemitism, conspiracy theories as well as cultural and social change in Turkish society. His articles have been published in various journals, including History and Society, Social History, Birikim, and Virgül. He has contributed articles to numerous compilations and encyclopedias and edited numerous books.

In 2005 he won the Yunus Nadi Award for his book From Anatolia to the New World (Anadolu'dan Yeni Dünyaya) and again in 2008 with his book Sami Günzberg, the Chief Dentist of the Palace and the Republic (Sarayın ve Cumhuriyetin Dişçibaşısı Sami Günzberg adlı kitabıyla). In 2009 he won the Benveniste Research Award for his published writings on Turkish Jewry. He is the managing director of Libra Books, an academic press based in Istanbul specializing in topics related to Turkish and Ottoman history.^[2]