Yasar Tolga Cora

Yasar Tolga Cora is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Bogazici University. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago (2016) and served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan’s Armenian Studies Program and History Department. His research focuses on Ottoman history, Armenian communities, labor dynamics, and gender studies, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of ethnicity, class, and state formation in the late Ottoman Empire.

Research Interests
Dr. Cora’s work explores Ottoman Armenian communities’ resilience through labor and economic systems, gender roles in industrial contexts, and the socio-political dimensions of migration and diaspora. He examines topics such as Ottoman law, historiography, and the impact of violence on Armenian populations. His recent studies include analyses of carpet production as a post-violence recovery mechanism, the role of merchant networks in sustaining communities, and the construction of masculinity in military memoirs.

Key Contributions
He co-edited Home(land)s: Place, Loss, and Return in Contemporary Turkey (2021), exploring contested geographies of identity. His articles address themes like labor control in 1950s Turkey, Armenian homeland associations, and the Armenian elite’s wartime contributions to Ottoman governance. His book translations, such as Kalusd Sürmenyan’s memoirs, highlight first-hand accounts of the Armenian Genocide.

Awards & Recognition
No specific awards were mentioned in the provided texts, though his academic output reflects significant scholarly impact in Ottoman studies.

Grants & Advising
While no explicit grants or student advisees are listed, his extensive co-authored works suggest collaborative research engagements.