- Region: Europe; Middle East; Ottoman Empire
- Time: 16th Century; 17th Century; 18th Century
- Theme: Social History; History of Religion; Ottoman Literature; Poetry and Poetics
Ozkan entered the joint History & Middle Eastern Studies PhD program in 2018. His broad interests include early modern Middle East, social, cultural and religious history of the Ottoman Empire, nonconformist religious movements, Alevi-Bektashi communities in Anatolia, religious orders and Sufism. His dissertation focuses on the transmission of Alevi religious knowledge through the Alevi mystical poetry. Before joining HMES, Ozkan earned a BA in History from the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) and an MA in History from the Sabanci University (Istanbul, Turkey).