I was born and raised in Istanbul, Turkiye. My Turkish ancestry has roots in Trabzon; the Black Sea region, Crimea, Saloniki and Adana. 

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After graduating from the maths&science branch of high school in Antalya, Turkiye, I have decided to pursue a career in politics, and thus applied to a university in England in 1997.

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In 2001, I completed my bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, England. In 2022 I completed my master's degree in International Studies at the same university, where I have studied International Law, International Relations of the Middle East, and International Relations of the Mediterranean. I wrote my dissertation on "Turkiye’s Foreign Policy Alternatives to Membership with the EU”.

 

I was employed by the Geneva Center for Security Policy in Switzerland first as a stagiaire, then as a project coordinator, where I conducted research on the Mediterranean region and the Middle East, with a special focus on the US and the EU policies in these regions. I coordinated the “International Geneva” Project creating a network among the the various international organizations in Geneva.

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​On my return to Turkiye, I was employed as the foreign economic relations department officer at Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

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I worked as the Trade and Investment Manager at the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkiye on developing and maintaining senior level contacts in the Turkish public and private sectors.