On 18 July 2014, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Sahin Albayrak was ceremoniously awarded the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Prof. Dr. Johanna Wanka, for his extensive efforts to improve scientific cooperation between Germany and Turkey and for his commitment to promoting the education of migrants.
Sahin Albayrak is a professor at TU Berlin and has headed the department of “Agent Technologies in Operational Applications and Telecommunications” (AOT) since 2002. He was born in Nazimiye, Turkey, and has been associated with TU Berlin since 1980, when he began his diploma studies in computer science. Since 2002, Sahin Albayrak has also headed the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (DAI Laboratory), which now employs around 120 people from all over the world. Furthermore, he is strengthening cooperation between Germany and Turkey, especially in the German-Turkish Advanced Research Centre for ICT (GT-ARC), which he founded. The aim of GT-ARC is to conduct research projects in the field of information and communication technologies in cooperation with scientific institutions and partners. The institute works in close cooperation with leading companies in Germany and Turkey. It is an affiliated institute of the TU Berlin with locations in Berlin and Istanbul. In Berlin it is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in Turkey by the Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communications.
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is awarded for special political, economic-social and intellectual achievements as well as for all special services to the Federal Republic of Germany. The Order of Merit was established by the Federal President Theodor Heuss on 7 September 1951 and is the only general award of merit in Germany. As such, it is the highest recognition given by the Federal Republic of Germany for services to the common good.
