Oytun Orhan graduated from the Department of International Relations at Gazi University, completed his master’s degree in International Relations at Hacettepe University, and earned his PhD in International Relations at Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University’s Institute of Social Sciences.
He began his career in 1999 as a researcher in the Middle East Department at ASAM (Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies), where he worked until 2009. Since 2009, he has worked at ORSAM (Center for Middle Eastern Studies), first as a researcher and now as Levant Studies Coordinator.
His work centers on Syria and Lebanon, and he has also studied Israel-Palestine, Iraq, the wider Middle East, and Turkey’s Middle East policy. He has worked on several projects examining the impact of the Syrian civil war on neighboring countries, its effects on Syrian minority groups, and the situation of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries. He has extensive field experience across Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, and has conducted substantial research in the Turkey-Syria border area.
Orhan contributes regularly to websites, newspapers, and news agencies. He has appeared on all major Turkish TV channels as well as Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Arabiya, Rudaw TV, and Russia Today, among others, and has been quoted by numerous national and international media outlets.