He was born and grew up in Ankara, Turkey. After graduating from Middle East Technical University, he studied in graduate programs at Bilkent and McGill Universities. Dr. Yaycioglu completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2008. In 2008 and 2009, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Program at Hellenic Studies, Princeton University. His research has been mainly in the social and political history of the Ottoman Empire 18th-19th century, history of elites in the late Ottoman Empire, and modern Turkey and Greece.