Muhammed Aslaner

My field is Late Ottoman History with a particular focus on military and social history of World War I in the Middle East. My BA was in History at Bogazici University, Turkey. In my undergraduate thesis (published in 2023), I focused on the social history of military desertion during the Turkish War of Independence, under the supervision of Professor Tolga Cora.

Next, I started an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) as a TEV-UK Scholar. Under the supervision of Professor Eugene Rogan, my thesis explored the Circassian Volunteer Cavalry unit fighting for the Ottomans along the Hejaz Railway during WWI.

I am now starting a DPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford (St. John’s College) through OOC AHRC DTP scholarships, generously co-funded by Clarendon and All Souls College. I will be focusing on the role of the irregular Circassian, Chechen, and Bedouin forces in the Ottoman war efforts during WWI.

I have experience working in the Ottoman/Turkish State Archives (BOA/BCA) and Ottoman Military Archives (ATASE) as well as working on personal diaries and memoirs written in Ottoman Turkish.