My interest in civil society originated in the context of my research on Greek-Turkish relations with a study of cooperation between Greek and Turkish NGOs, which was published in 2005 in South European Society and Politics. During 2008-2010, as a co-investigator with Fuat Keyman in the EU FP7 project Enacting European citizenship (ENACT), I had the opportunity to conduct large scale empirical research on how different groups of Turkish citizens and civil society actors (Kurdish, non-Muslim, youth, and women) claim rights in and through European institutions. We argued that Turkish citizens are enacting European citizenship through their rights claims, even though they do not possess the status of EU citizenship. Our research on Kurdish civil society and European citizenship practices was published in Journal of Common Market Studies, and the one on conscientious objectors was published in the volume A Threat against Europe? Security, Migration and Integration. Subsequently, we have conducted further research on the citizenship practices of the Armenian community in Turkey (Citizenship Studies 2016).

Most recently, with Büke Boşnak, I co-authored a chapter which aims to take stock of the Europeanization of civil society in Turkey, which was published in the volume, The Europeanization of Turkey: Polity and Politics. In addition, with Didem Çakmakli, I have conducted a research project funded by the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council on civil society and development of active citizenship in Turkey. An article based on fieldwork and interviews with civil society organizations in 6 different cities in Turkey has been published in South European Society and Politics.