I Want to Understand!

I was born in Çanakkale. First because of my father's job, and later because of basketball, which I played professionally at the time, I lived in many different cities and attended many different schools. My curiosity about the concept of “identity” led me to study Turkish Language and Literature as an undergraduate. I then added “security” to “identity” and wrote a thesis titled “Threat Perceptions Developed by Türkiye through Iran in the Context of Identity Definition (1980–2003)” in the Department of Middle Eastern Political History and International Relations at Marmara University's Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. During my master's studies I spent nearly two years in total in Iran to get to know the field and the language. After returning, I took on roles in projects and jobs that gave me the opportunity to work closely with Afghan and Iranian refugees. As a member of the Persian-language Protection Desk staff, I had the chance to conduct one-on-one interviews in Persian with hundreds of refugees over nearly two years.

I am now working on a doctoral dissertation that examines the relationship between intelligence and migration in the Department of Strategy and Security Studies at the National Defence University's Atatürk Institute for Strategic Studies and Graduate Education (ATASAREN). In short, I stand where security studies, intelligence studies and migration studies intersect.

Since 2020 I have been working as a researcher at the Center for Iranian Studies (İRAM). There I work mainly on Iran-related security issues, Iranian domestic politics, Iranian foreign policy and migration.

For the past 15 years I have worked continuously on Iran and the region. Besides Iran, I try to follow Israel, Greece and Armenia from the inside on a daily basis. Ever since childhood I have been curious about everything happening around Türkiye, with Türkiye at the centre. I try to devote my spare time to cultural studies. In general, I am curious about “the human being”; I try to understand people. That is why I am curious about cultures, languages, history and literature. Persian and English are an active part of my daily life and my professional work. I can read and understand French. Beyond that, I have reading and comprehension skills slightly above the basic level in some other languages. There are a few dishes I am confident I cook well. I get along well with music. In short, “to know something about everything and everything about something” is one of the mottos that shape my outlook on life. Apart from all this, I spend my days as “a reclusive student”.

I believe knowledge is the only thing in the world that multiplies the more it is shared. When someone passes on a piece of knowledge, it does not diminish; we both come to possess it. This has always struck me as something that defies the laws of physics. I am drawn to the way knowledge is concrete, takes on a new meaning in every context and creates new contexts.

I love learning. I love sharing. I love passing on what I learn, both to produce something useful and to make that knowledge last within me. That is the sole purpose of this site. I wanted to gather all my work under one roof as far as possible and keep it in one place, like a portfolio. I hope you find it useful.