The Department of History functions mainly as a graduate department, offering M.A. and Ph.D. programs in the areas of Ottoman, American, and European histories. The department was founded in 1993 by the world-renowned historian and Ottomanist Prof. Halil İnalcık, whose guiding presence at the department helps training historians find their paths in a far-ranging spectrum of topics in history and is appreciated by faculty and researchers who have been traversing the paths they have already chosen. Under the instruction of an international faculty trained at the leading and most prestigious universities of Europe, North America and Turkey, the student body of the department is also showing an increasingly international character with students from the US, Canada, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Afghanistan, Iran, as well as Turkey, enrolled in programs at offer.
The department offers, at the undergraduate level, both compulsory and elective courses in History of Civilization (HCIV 101/102) for the students of other departments and faculties. It also offers History of Turkey (HIST200), a mandatory course for all Turkish undergraduate students, which is designed as an interactive course with an emphasis on research and the objective of investigating events, chronologically short historical periods, as well as historic representations. At offer by the department are also preparatory courses for the entering graduate students entering the Department of History, some of which are also offered as electives for senior undergraduates of other departments.