On December 6, 2001, at the age of 71, Vladimir Ivanovich Danilov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, leading researcher of the Department of Near and Middle East of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, an Oriental historian, a major specialist in the history and political science of modern Turkey, highly valued by his friends and colleagues, died suddenly.

Vladimir Ivanovich was born in Moscow on May 19, 1931. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies with a degree in regional studies and Turkology in 1954, just in the year of the strange closure of this famous Oriental studies institution, so he had to get a job himself. Now it is difficult to say what circumstances prevented him from immediately entering the path of scientific research, although, as it soon became clear to everyone,there were all the reasons for this. But first he had to pass the Turkological school of practical regional studies in the Publishing House of Literature in Foreign Languages and in the Radio Committee, which, presumably, was not useless for his further scientific career. At one time, he combined this practical activity with postgraduate studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies, and from the end of 1964, as a candidate of Sciences, he forever linked his fate with this institute. His academic career was interrupted only once: in 1967-1969, V. I. Danilov worked at the UN Secretariat in New York.

Almost all 40 years of his research work in Turkology Vladimir

^* For the main scientific works of V. I. Danilov, see: Vostok (Oriens). 2001. N 4.

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Ivanovich devoted mainly to one main topic-the study of the political system and political development of the Republic of Turkey in the second half of the XX century. Therefore, in science, he can be called a one-lover, but he understood his subject as deeply as anyone, in all its details and in a truly systematic sense. He carefully, year after year, monitored the crisis-like development of Turkey's main public institutions in the 1950s and 1980s, primarily the army, and revealed the true causes of the chronic internal political instability of its state system, which was shaken by three military coups and mass movements.

V. I. Danilov's Ph. D. thesis on the background and character of the coup d'etat of May 27, 1960 and included in a revised and expanded form in his first monograph " The Middle Strata in the Political Life of Modern Turkey "(Moscow, 1968) became the starting point of all his subsequent research on modern history and political science of Turkey, embodied in a series of books and articles and giving a multi-colored canvas of the socio-political life of the country for more than forty years. The main result of his subsequent twenty-year research was the fundamental work " Political struggle in Turkey. 50s-early 80s of the XX century. (Political Parties and the Army)", published in 1985. This work in a handwritten version was soon defended as a doctoral dissertation.

Already in the doctorate rank, Vladimir Ivanovich continued to successfully advance along the path he had chosen, since the Turkish reality provided enough material for this. The title of his next monograph, published in 1991, speaks for itself: "Turkey of the 80s: from the military regime to 'limited democracy'". Based on his previous works, Vladimir Ivanovich describes in this book the internal and foreign policy reasons for the next military coup of 1980 and the subsequent transition period. Thus, this work seems to complete a three-volume book, all parts of which are entirely devoted to the 30-year crisis of the political system of modern Turkey, are united by the unity of the topic and methodology of the study. This great work, characterized by a wealth of factual material and depth of scientific analysis, is undoubtedly a significant contribution to the national Turkology. These three monographs will remain for a long time reference books for all Turkologists involved in the recent history and political science of Turkey.

Focusing on these issues, V. I. Danilov in the last years of his life expanded the geographical area of his research and at the same time deepened his scientific research, turning to the study of traditional and modern political systems in other countries of Western Asia. The first and very successful result of this new direction in his scientific work was the highly appreciated collective work "The Evolution of Political systems in the East (Iran, Pakistan, Turkey: Traditions and Democratization)" (Moscow, 1999), in which he simultaneously compiled, edited, and authored two articles. Vladimir Ivanovich also discovered another new niche, namely the Kurdish one, by moving to the Kurdish Studies section of the BSV department (before that, he worked in the Turkish sector and was its head for seven years, from 1978 to 1985). Recent works of the scientist are devoted to Kurdish studies.

In general, getting acquainted with the literary heritage of V. I. Danilov, you are convinced that his creative potential, unfortunately, was not fully realized. This is shown, for example, by the small book "7,000 kilometers in Turkey" published by him back in 1975, which contains a description of his trips around the country in 1971. The reader will find in it not so much colorful descriptions of the natural beauties and historical monuments of "our southern neighbor", but careful and professional observations of a specialist on many interesting phenomena of the then Turkish life. Vladimir Ivanovich has visited Turkey at least 10 times, and if he had lived longer, he probably could have shared his new impressions with us many more times.

Trips to Turkey, which became the chosen scientific muse of his life, as well as to other countries, were fruitful in many ways. He was an active participant of scientific conferences, symposia, colloquiums and similar events, where he adequately represented domestic Turkology, established business and friendly relations with foreign colleagues, and enjoyed their well-deserved authority and respect. V. I. Danilov's work abroad occupied a significant place in his life and played an important role in his development as a person and scientist. In 1995, V. I. Danilov was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.-

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Associate of the International Slavic Academy of Sciences, Education, Arts and Culture.

Vladimir Ivanovich made a significant contribution to the training of young specialists in Turkey, being a scientific adviser and opponent in the defense of their dissertations. In recent years, he has taught a course on Turkish history at the Linguistic Moscow State University.

Vladimir Ivanovich Danilov did not live a very long, but eventful and useful life, leaving a good memory for himself. The untimely death of this great scholar of Turkology, a conscientious and modest person, is a sad loss for all Orientalists in the Middle East.

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