I have been a research fellow (wissenschaftlicher Assistent) at the University of Basel’s Program in Near and Middle Eastern Studies since 2017.

I successfully defended my dissertation at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies in 2021 (topic: modern history of the Anatolian-Caucasian border region).

Before that, I earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science, Near Eastern studies, and Turkish studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Princeton University, and Sabancı University (İstanbul).

In my research and courses, I take on the modern history of Turkey, the Caucasus, and the Near East. My current research projects examine questions of statehood in the Near East, with a special focus on Turkey—including themes like borders, collective violence, and property relations. When it comes to teaching, I offer not only courses on my research interests, but also self-developed, introductory courses on the history of the region and on methodology. Administratively, I am responsible for student advising at all levels, supervising the program library, and coordinating the doctoral program, among other activities.

• Modern Turkish history
• Modern Caucasian history
• Borders and borderlands
• Collective political violence
• Property rights and expropriation
• Empires and nation-states