Mert Aydemir is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies. His research examines the history of Iran and the Ottoman Empire in the long nineteenth century, with particular attention to Iranian nationalism, intellectual exchanges between Ottoman and Qajar subjects, the Iranian diaspora in the Ottoman Empire, and the political economy of trade and merchant networks in the Qajar period. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in History from Boğaziçi University.