Born in Çıldır/Ardahan in 1962, Ramazan KORKMAZ completed his primary education in Çıldır and Ardahan and his secondary education in Erzurum. He graduated from the Turkish Language and Literature Department of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Atatürk University in 1985 and started his career as a Research Assistant at Fırat University the same year. He completed his Master’s degree at Fırat University’s Institute of Social Sciences with his study titled “Keçecizade İzzet Molla and Research on Mihnet-Keşan” (VI+477 p.) in 1988 and his PhD with the study “Sabahattin Ali / The Man and His Works” (XII+403 p.) in 1991. KORKMAZ became an Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Turkish Literature at Fırat University in 1996 and a Professor in 2001. After working as a Visiting Faculty Member at Eastern Mediterranean University (Northern Cyprus) between 2000-2002 and 2004-2006, he continued his duties at Fırat University until 2009.

Appointed as the Founding Rector of Ardahan University, established by the law number 5765 accepted by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on May 22, 2008, Ramazan KORKMAZ served in this role until June 2016.

For his lasting and systematic work with universities in the Caucasus and Central Asia, he was awarded the “Rector of the Year” award at the “Oxford Leaders Summit” held in Oxford, England, by the Europe Business Assembly (EBA) from October 25 to 27, 2012.

For his contributions to Turkish-Georgian relations, Prof. Dr. Ramazan KORKMAZ was awarded honorary doctorates by the Samtskhe-Javakheti State Teaching University of Georgia (2015) and Gori State Teaching University of Georgia (2016); and for the synergy created in the region by the Caucasus Universities Association (CUA), he was also awarded by Azerbaijan Baku Homeland University (2016).

Ramazan KORKMAZ started his duty as the Acting Rector of Fatih University appointed by the trustee on June 27, 2016, and served until the nationalization of Fatih University on July 24, 2016. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Education at Maltepe University from 2016 to 2019 and was a Visiting Faculty Member at Texas Health and Science University in the USA in the Spring semester of 2019-2020.

Publications by Ramazan KORKMAZ include:

• “Çıldır Folklore and Ethnography,” Karadeniz Publishing, 2015.
• “Literary Readings,” Kesit Publishing, 2015.
• “A New Genre in Turkish Literature: The Short-short Story,” by Ramazan Korkmaz and Mutlu Deveci, Grafiker Publishing, 2011.
• “Otherness Issues and Themes of Transformation in Aytmatov’s Narratives,” Grafiker Publishing, 2008.
• “İkaros’s New Face Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı,” Akçağ Publishing, 2002.
• “Sabahattin Ali / The Man and His Works,” Yapı Kredi Publishing, 1997 (TİSAV Literature Science Award).
• He has also authored and edited books such as “Endangered Languages of the Caucasus and Beyond,” “Dede Korkut Readings,” “Tanzimat Period Turkish Literature-I,” “Tanzimat Period Turkish Literature-II,” “Cengiz Aytmatov,” “History of Turkish Literature I-IV,” and “Handbook of Modern Turkish Literature (1839-2000).”

Along with these publications, KORKMAZ has presented papers in Turkey, the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Northern Cyprus and has published over 60 scientific articles. He has also supervised over 50 master’s and doctoral students in his field.