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CURRICULUM VITAE
Aylin KOÇUNYAN
e-mail: aylin.besiryan@eui.eu
EDUCATION
2008-2013: Doctorate at the European University Institute (Florence, Italy), Department of History &
Civilization
Thesis title: “Negotiating the Ottoman Constitution, 1856-1876”.
Directors: Prof. Anthony Molho (European University Institute, Florence) and Prof. Edhem Eldem
(external supervisor, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul).
Thesis defended at the European University Institute, Florence, on June 3rd, 2013.
2004-2007: Master’s studies at the Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Department of History, Thesis title:
“Hopes of Secularization in the Ottoman Empire: the Armenian National Constitution and the
Newspaper Masis, 1856-1863”, graduate with great honours.
1994-1999: Bachelor’s Degree, Galatasaray University, Department of Political Science, Istanbul.
1985-1994: Secondary Education: Notre Dame de Sion French High School, Istanbul.
RESEARCH LANGUAGES
French (Fluent), English (Fluent), Italian (understanding skills), Ottoman Turkish (reading), Turkish
(native) and Armenian (native).
RESEARCH FIELDS
Ottoman legal history, cultural and legal transfers, constitutional history, consumption and identity,
minorities and law, etc.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
-2014-2016, Research associate to the CETOBAC (Centre d’Etudes turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et
centrasiatiques), EHESS, Paris, within the framework of the project entitled “Trans-acting Matters:
Areas and Eras of a (Post-) Ottoman Globalization” funded by the French National Research Agency
(ANR-12-GLOB-003).
I contributed to the project with the following axis:
The impact of the French « Régime des Cultes » on the transformation of the millet-system in the
Ottoman Empire, 1856-1865
The project pays attention to the restructuration of the Ottoman Armenian and Jewish communities in
a period that followed the Crimean War and the promulgation of the 1856 Reform Decree, which
invited them to revise their community regulations. On the one hand, it tries to reconstruct the impact
of the French consistorial system (a body created in1808 by Napoleon I and governing the Jewish
congregations of France) on the transformation of the Ottoman Jewish community in the 1860s and
the agency of the transnational communal networks behind the process. On the other hand, it shows
how the Armenian intelligentsia which drafted the Armenian regulation tried to adapt the elements of
French constitutionalism to the Ottoman context for the administration of their communal sphere.
2015-2017, Teaching Experience (Lecturer)
*September 2016-January 2017, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Department of Political Science
Course taught in French
SPRI 101.01, History of International Relations (for first-year students).

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*September 2016-January 2017, Bilgi University, Istanbul, Faculty of Social Sciences
Course taught in English
HUM 121, Western Civilization from 1500 to 1800 (for first-year students of all departments)
*February 2016-June 2016, Bilgi University, Istanbul, Department of History
Course taught in English
HIST 272, The Making of the Modern World II: A Global Narrative, 16th–20th Centuries (for second-
year students)
*September 2015-January 2016, Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Department of Political Science
Course taught in French
SPRI 101.01, History of International Relations (for first-year students).
*June-August 2015, Lecturer, Boğaziçi University Summer School, Department of History.
Course taught in English
HIST 484, Selected Topics on the Social History of Law in the Ottoman Space (for fourth-year
students)
Participation in working groups
2010-2011: Member of the working group « Constitutions and the Legitimization of Power » at the
University of Helsinki, a project sponsored by the European Research Council, on revolutions,
national constitutions and global law and an alternative view of Europe between 1815 and 1914 and
directed by Prof. Bo Stråth, Chair in Nordic, European and World History at the Department of World
Cultures, and Prof. Martti Koskenniemi, director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and
Human Rights at the University of Helsinki.
More information available at http://www.helsinki.fi/erere/
2008-, International Collaborations
Contributor of the project entitled “Muslim Civilisations Abstracts” and conducted by the Institute for
the Study of Muslim Civilizations, Aga Khan University, London. The project identifies and collates a
database of abstracts about works produced in Muslim majority contexts organized around specific
themes.
2008-1999, Library Management, Head Librarian, Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Center,
Istanbul.
1. Publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, peer-reviewed conference
proceedings and/or monographs
Articles in Turkish
{Toplumsal Tarih is a peer-reviewed scientific history journal published by the History Foundation,
Istanbul, Turkey.}
-“Bir Hişadagaran, Arşak Babikyan ve Unutulmuş Diğerleri” (A Memorial, Arşak Babikyan and the
others forgotten), Toplumsal Tarih, 269 (May 2016), pp. 44-48.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 264 (December 2015), pp. 12-13. (Selected and annotated news
from the 1915 issues of an Armenian daily, Jamanak).
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 263 (November 2015), pp. 12-14.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 262 (October 2015), pp. 12-14.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 261 (September 2015), pp. 12-14.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 260 (August 2015), pp. 14-16.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 259 (July 2015), pp. 12-13.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 258 (June 2015), pp. 14-15.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 257 (May 2015), pp. 12-13.
-“Jamanak 1915”, Toplumsal Tarih, 256 (April 2015), pp. 10-11.
-“Nizâmnâme-i Millet-i Ermeniyân Anayasa Mıydı? ” (Was the Armenian Millet Regulation a
Constitution?), Toplumsal Tarih, 216 (December 2011), pp. 46-52.
2. Conference and Book Reviews in Turkish

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-“Uluslararası ve Disiplinlerarası Bir Çalıştaydan İzlenimler: Osmanlı Coğrafyasında Hukuk Yapmak,
1800-1914” (Impressions from an International and Interdisciplinary Workshop: The Making of Law
in the Ottoman Space, 1800-1914) , Toplumsal Tarih, 259 (July 2015), pp. 14-15.
-“Rupen Zartaryan (1874-1915) ve Makaleler” (Rupen Zartaryan and Articles), Toplumsal Tarih, 265
(January 2016), pp. 94-95.
-“Yervant Sırmakeşkhanlıyan (1870-1915) ve Küçük Asya’dan” (Yervant Sırmakeşkhanlıyan and
from Asia Minor), Toplumsal Tarih, 262 (October 2015), pp. 90-91.
3. Research monographs, chapters in collective volumes and any translations thereof.
Book
Negotiating the Ottoman Constitution, 1839-1876 (Leuven: Peeters), in process of publication. (The
book is based on the enlarged version of my doctoral dissertation.
Research chapters in collective volumes
-“Historicizing the 1908 Revolution: The Case of Jamanak” in Noémi Lévy-Aksu and François
Georgeon (eds.), The Young Turks and the Ottoman Empire: The Aftermath of the 1908 Revolution
(London: I.B., 2016).
-“The Transcultural Dimension of the Ottoman Constitution” in Pascal Firges, Tobias Graf, Christian
Roth and Gülay Tulasoğlu (eds.), Well-Connected Domains: towards an Entangled Ottoman History
(Brill, 2014), pp. 235-258.
-“Long Live Sultan Abdulaziz, Long Live the Nation, Long Live the Constitution!” in Kelly Grotke
and Markus Prutsch (eds), Constitutionalism, Legitimacy and Power: Nineteenth-Century Experiences
(Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 189-210.
Encyclopaedia Entries
-« Patriarcat arménien de Constantinople » in François Georgeon, Nicolas Vatin et Gilles Veinstein
(éd.), Dictionnaire de l'Empire ottoman (Fayard, 2015), 913-914.
4. Invited presentations to peer-reviewed, internationally established conferences and/or
international advanced schools.
Invitations to International Conferences
-“In search of the 19th-Century Ottoman Empire Urban Life: Glimpses from the Ottoman Bank
Archives and Research Center”, Melcom International Annual Meeting, Ottoman Bank Archives and
Research Center, Istanbul, 2006.
-“Hopes of Secularization in the Ottoman Empire: the 1863 Armenian National Constitution and the
Road to Ottoman Constitutionalism”, 12th Mediterranean Meeting, European University Institute,
Robert Schuman Centre, Montecatini, 12-15 March 2008.
-“Les Constitutions ottomanes de 1876 et de 1908 et l’Opinion publique”, Association internationale
des Etudes arméniennes, Paris, September 2008.
-“Differences of Terminology, Differences of Perception: Constitutions and Political Language in the
Ottoman Context”, Topics in Late Ottoman History, European University Institute, Department of
History & Civilization, Florence, November 2008.
-“Débats sur la Constitution dans la Presse arménienne”, Les Visages de la Liberté, 1908, Institut
Français d'Etudes anatoliennes & Université de Galatasaray, Istanbul, December 2008.
-“Bureaucrates arméniens dans l'Empire ottoman. Des Tanzimat à la Constitution de 1876”,
Translating Cultures: Interpretations, Adaptations, Contaminations, European University Institute,
Department of History and Civilization, Florence, February 2009.
-“Mapping the Travel of Constitutional Ideas from Europe to Istanbul, 1856-1876”, Orient Institute,
Istanbul, March 2009.
-“From Short Stories to Social Topography: Kasim (Misak Koçunyan's Life Landscapes)”, Istanbul –
Kushta – Constantinople: Diversity of Identities and Personal Narratives in the Ottoman Capital, 1830-
1900, Orient Institut-Istanbul in collaboration with the University of Bamberg, Department of
Turcology, Istanbul, 14 & 15 October 2010.

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-“Negotiating the Ottoman Constitution: The Agency of non-Muslims, 1856-1876”, 2nd
Ottoman
Workshop, European University Institute, Department of History & Civilization, Florence, 6 June
2011.
-“The Imperial Center in Ottoman-Armenian Memoirs (19th-20th Centuries)”, workshop organised by
the Orient Institute (Istanbul) & Otto-Friedrich University (Bamberg), 16 December 2011.
-“The Aftermath of the 1908 Revolution from the Angle of Armenian Times, Jamanak”, workshop
organised by the Boğaziçi University & the CETOBAC, Istanbul, 8 December 2012.
-“Sir Moses Montefiore and the Jewish Emancipation in the Ottoman Empire, 1856”, workshop on
Visions of Judaism and Jewish Community in the Nineteenth Century: The Impact of Sir Moses
Montefiore, organised by UCL Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies & Montefiore Endowment,
London, 28 October 2013.
-“Community Regulations of the Ottoman Era », Legal Entities of non-Muslims: Problems and
Rights”, conference organized by Bilgi University Law Department, Community Foundations
Representative Office and the Venice Commission, Istanbul, 30 January 2014.
-“Consuming Art as Commodity or for Aesthetic Enjoyment? Case Studies from post-1980s Turkey”,
Facts and Values in Aesthetics, Villa Finaly, Florence, 24-28 June, 2014.
-“Objets, Consommation et Interactions culturelles en Méditerranée: le Cas de la Turquie”,
Civilisation(s): Méditerranée et au-delà, colloque organisé par le Comité français d'histoire de l'art
(CFHA), Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM) et l'Institut national
d'Histoire de l'art (INHA), Marseille, 26-28 June, 2014.
-“Language Framing the Spirit of Ottoman Legal Codification in the Tanzimat Era”, CIEPO, Budapest,
7-11 October 2014.
-“La Caricature ottomane entre Art et Préoccupations sociétales”, L’Image railleuse. La Satire dans
l’Art et la Culture visuelle, du 18e
Siècle à Nos Jours, Colloque organisé par l’INHA, l’Université du
Québec et le LARHRA UMR 5190 de Lyon, Paris, Auditorium de l’INHA, 25-27 June 2015.
-“Le Voyage du Sultan Abdulaziz en Europe et ses Echos en 1867”, Le Gouvernement en
Déplacement, Ecole nationale des Chartes, Paris, 4 December, 2015.
-“L’Evolution du Statut de la Communauté arménienne dans l’Empire ottoman, 1856-1916”, Colloque
international. Minorités en Méditerranée au XIXème Siècle: Identités, Identifications, Circulations,
Centre d’Histoire Sciences Po, Paris, 24-24 March 2016.
-“D’une Histoire constitutionnelle de Réformes juridiques vers une Historiographie du Droit
constitutionnel en tant que “science sociale”, Colloque de restitution, projet “transfaire”, Ecole des
Hautes Etudes, Paris, 7-9 September 2016.
-“Suleyman Pasha’s Constitutional Draft and Its Contextualization”, Second European Convention on
Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies, Hamburg, 14-17 September 2016.
Invitations to Seminars in Advanced Schools
-“Institutionalizing the Millet System, 1856-1865”, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales,
Paris, 9 December 2015.
-“Réformes juridiques ottomanes: Modèles méditerranéens et au-delà”, Ecole normale supérieure,
Paris, 1 December 2015 (within the framework of the seminar “Penser la Méditerranée”, organized by
Wolfgang Kaiser, Bernard Vincent and Bernard Heyberger).
-“La Question constitutionnelle dans l’Empire ottoman et le Rôle des Communautés non-musulmanes
et de leurs Diasporas, 1856-1876”, Institut d’Etudes de l’Islam et des Sociétés du Monde musulman,
Paris, 17 December 2014 (within the framework of the seminar “Anthropologie historique des
Chrétiens en Islam” organized by Bernard Heyberger).
-with Noémi Lévy-Aksu, “Rethinking Legal Reforms: Circulating Norms, Political Dynamics and
Social Interactions in the Ottoman Empire”, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales, Paris, 12
December 2014.
-“Aux Origines de la Constitution arménienne de 1863”, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
sociales, Paris, 10 April 2008.
5. Archival Experience
-February-March 2010: Research in the National Archives, Kew Gardens, London.
-May 2010: Research in the archives of the Italian Foreign Ministry, Rome.

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-November-December 2010: Research in the archives of the French Foreign Ministry, la Courneuve,
Paris.
-April 2011: Preliminary research in the National Library of Finland for the consultation of the
collection Armeniaca, a collection of historical Armenian books.
-September 2011-May 2012 & 2013: Research in the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Ministry,
Istanbul and in the Library of the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul.
-December 2014-January 2015: Research on the records of the Alliance israélite universelle (Paris),
those of the Central Consistory of Paris, the French National Archives.
-August-September 2015: Archives of the Mechitarist Congregation of Vienna (Catholic Armenian
monastery holding a rich collection of historical serials in Armenian).
6. Organisation of International conferences in the field of the researcher
2015: Member of the steering committee of the workshop entitled “The Making of Law in the
Ottoman Space, 1800-1914”, Interdisciplinary/International Workshop, May 26th and 27th, 2015,
Collège de France, Paris. The workshop was a part of the project entitled “Trans-acting Matters: Areas
and Eras of a (Post-) Ottoman Globalization” funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR-
12-GLOB-003).
7. Prizes and Awards.
- Calouste Gulbenkian Scholarship, 1996-1999 for the completion of the bachelor’s degree.
- Calouste Gulbenkian Research award, 2007.
- Doctoral Scholarship of the Italian Foreign Ministry (2008-2011) for doctoral studies at the
European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy.
- Orient Institute, Istanbul, Research Grant, Summer Periods, 2009 & 2010 (The Orient-Institut
Istanbul is an independent Turcological and area studies research institute of the Max Weber
Foundation).
- Junior fellowship of Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (Istanbul),
September June 2011-2012 in addition to the 2011-2012 European University Institute grant for
the completion of the doctoral program.