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Educational Background 

Ph.D. New York University
M.A. University of Ankara
B.A. Middle East Technical University, Ankara

 

Research Interests and Work in Progress

Professor Ates specializes in Ottoman-Iranian Relations, Kurdish History, Late Ottoman Empire, Sectarianism in the Middle East, and Borderlands. At present he is working on a project tentatively called: “Sheikh Abdulqadir Nehri and the Pursuit of an Independent Kurdistan.” In this project Ates explores what historical conditions account for how the Kurds became the largest ethnic group without its own nation? He sets out to answer this question on the basis of a wide variety of primary sources in Modern Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Persian, English and French. Anchored in the biography of its protagonist, Seyyid Abdulqadir of Nehri the book explores efforts to establish or prevent the creation of Kurdistan as an independent state or autonomous entity starting in mid 1870s. In particular, it focuses on the tumultuous period between 1880-1925, during which the creation of a Kurdish state emerged as a distinct possibility and then quickly unraveled. Moreover, it studies what role did the Kurds themselves play in making or unmaking a state of their own. In addition to this project Ates is also working on two articles: “1639 Treaty of Zohab: Founding Myth or Founding Document,” and another article on the role of sectarianism in Ottoman-Iranian relations.

 

Publications

Books:

• The Ottoman-Iranian Borderlands: Making a Boundary, 1843-1914, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013). (Turkish translation: Istanbul:Küre³Û²¹²âı²Ô±ô²¹°ùı, 2020. Persian Translation forthcoming).
• °¿²õ³¾²¹²Ô±ôı»å²¹²ÔCumhuriyeteBir Aydın:°Õ³Ü²Ô²¹±ôıHilmi Bey, [An Intellectual from Empire to the Republic:°Õ³Ü²Ô²¹±ôıHilmi Bey] (Ä°stanbul: Tarih³Õ²¹°ì´ÚıYurt³Û²¹²âı²Ô±ô²¹°ùı, 2009).
  

 

Articles:

• “Historical Transformation of the Ottoman-Iranian Boundaries,”Idea of Iran,ed. Charles Melville, Bloomsbury Publishers. (Submitted, forthcoming).
• “We the Nation: On Five Letters of Shaykh ‘Ubeydullah Nehrî,”Kurdish Studies Journal, 2 (2024), 3-32.
  
• Ates-Vural Genç, Sabri. "Ottoman-Safavid Relations: A Religious or Political Rivalry." in theOxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History.Ed. David Ludden. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
• “The End of Kurdish Autonomy: The Destruction of Kurdish Emirates in the Ottoman Empire,” in Bozarslan, Hamit, et al. The Cambridge History of the Kurds (Cambridge University Press, 2021.
• “1639 Treaty ofZohab: Foundational Myth or Foundational Document,”Iranian Studies, vol. 52: 3-4, May-July 2019. (Translated into Persian, by Nasrollah Salehi,Faslnameh-e Tarikh-eMoaser-e Iran, 2023)
• “Shi’i-Sunni Differences and the Emergence of the Ottoman-Iranian Border,” in The Journal of Turkish Studies(China), 1 (2018): 97-121
• “The Sheikh Ubeidullah Rebellion of 1880,” in Kurdish Question Revisited, ed. Gareth Stansfield, (London: Hurst & Co, 2017)
• Co-Author, “General Introduction,”Records of the Kurds: Territory, Revolt, and Nationalism, (Cambridge: Cambridge Archive Editions, 2015).
• “In the name of the caliph and the nation: The Sheikh Ubeidullah Rebellion of 1880-81” in Iranian Studies, (2014), Vol. 47, No. 5, 735-798.
• Millet ve HalifeYolunda: ½¢±ð²â³óUbeydullah-e Nehri Isyanı, I, II, III, Kürt Tarih Dergisi, Numbers. 7, 8, 9, 2013.
• “Bones of Contention: Corpse Traffic and the Ottoman-Iranian Rivalry in Iraq” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, (Duke University Press), Vol. 30, No. 3, (2010), 512-532. Persian translation by NazliKamvari, in Irannameh26, 2010, no. 1-2, pp. 1-30.] Turkish translation by Burcu Kurt, in Burcu Kurt and Ismail Yasayanlar, (eds.)°¿²õ³¾²¹²Ô±ôı»å²¹²Ô Cumhuriyet’e³§²¹±ô²µÄ±²Ô±á²¹²õ³Ù²¹±ôı°ì±ô²¹°ùveHalk³§²¹ÄŸ±ôığı, (Istanbul: Tarih³Õ²¹°ì´ÚıYurt³Û²¹²âı²Ô±ô²¹°ùı, 2017)
• “°Õ³Ü²Ô²¹±ôıHilmi Bey,”ToplumsalTarih,³§²¹²âı187,Temmuz2009.
• “OryantalizmveBizim DoÄŸu” (Orientalism and “Our East”),¶Ù´ÇÄŸ³Ü»å²¹²Ô, Vol. 1, Issue 1, September 2007.
• “The Ottoman Archives as a Source for the Study of Qajar Iran,”Iranian Studies, Volume 37, number 3, September 2004, 499-509. (Translated into Persian and published in Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies (Faslnameh-e Tarikh-e Moaser-e Iran), No. 35/pp.79- 96.

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants

• 2017-2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship
• 2016 Cary M. Maguire ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ for Ethics, Faculty Incentive Grant
• 2015 ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ for Presidential History Writing Fellowship (Spring 2015)
• 2014 Godbey Book Award, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
• 2012-2013 Dean’s Research Council Grant, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
• 2012-2013 Texas Project for Human Rights Education Fellow
• 2009-10 Koç University (Istanbul), Research ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ for Anatolian Civilizations Senior Residential Fellowship
• 2009-10 ARIT (American Research Institute in Turkey), Joukowsky Family Foundation, John Freely Fellowship
• 2009-10 University Research Council Grant, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
• 2006 Middle East Studies Association, Malcolm H. Kerr Dissertation Award in Humanities
• 2006 HOPE Teaching Award, ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ
• 2003 Dean’s Pre-Dissertation Fellowship, New York University
• 2001-2002 ARIT, Dissertation Fellowship
• 2001 Dean’s Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, New York University
• 2000 SCOS Fellowship, Cambridge University