Can Haldenbilen is a PhD candidate in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Basel, under the supervision of Prof. Maurus Reinkowski and Prof. Bilgin Ayata, since October 2023.

Prior to his doctoral studies, he earned a bachelor's degree with a double major in History and Turkish Literature at Boğaziçi University, and a master's degree in International History at the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID).

Main research interests: contemporary history of Turkey, global labour history, radical social movements, transnational migration

Militancy in Exile, Tracking the Diverse Trajectories of Political Migrants from Turkey

Can Haldenbilen is currently working on the project titled “Militancy in Exile: Tracking the Diverse Trajectories of Political Migrants from Turkey”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Focusing on three interconnected cities — Basel, Berlin, and Paris — which were heavily populated by socialist migrants from Turkey, this project seeks to answer two major questions. First, how and why have the trajectories of socialist militants diverged to such an extent following their exit from Turkey? Positioned at the intersection of social and political history, the second question is: how did the everyday experiences of socialist militants in exile shape and reshape their ideological commitments, political identities, and repertoires of action?

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Maurus Reinkowski

Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Bilgin Ayata

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Elise Massicard