Kort præsentation

Derya is a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, where she works on the Project Engaging the League of Nations in Protecting Turkey's Minorities (ELoN). The project examines the League of Nations' Minority Protection System (MPS) in the context of interwar Turkey, focusing on how the MPS influenced Turkey’s minority policies and international law, particularly in relation to the Lausanne Treaty of 1923.

Drawing on primary archival sources, Derya is developing a Minority Petitions Database to offer new insights into Turkey’s complex relationship with its minority communities during this period. Her work integrates both historical and legal perspectives, adopting an interdisciplinary approach.

Derya is the author of Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law, a pivotal work on the legal status of minorities in Turkey. She earned her doctorate from Queen Mary University of London, and her thesis received a prize from the Contemporary Turkish Studies Chair at the London School of Economics (LSE). She has also litigated notable cases before the European Court of Human Rights, including Güveç v. Turkey and Mehmet Nuri Ozen and others v. Turkey.

Derya’s research interests include human rights, minority rights, diversity and law, ethnoreligious diversity in Turkey’s legal system, nationalism, Ottoman pluralism, constitutional law, autonomous and federal state systems, and linguistic rights.

Currently, she teaches Shaping the Modern World: The League of Nations and its Legacy in International Law and Politics at the University of Copenhagen, which explores the broader impact of the League’s work on international governance and law. More information about the course can be found here.