MEET MY TEAM
Tanir-Vefa Avci
So.... I was originally an accounting and political science major, having graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts, respectively. My plan was to become an accounting lawyer, a prospect my family heartily approved of. Yet, I found myself spending more time reading Old Turkic runes and Chinese histories than I did studying for the LSAT. So, when I successfully passed the latter, I could not help but feel disappointed. Instead of applying to a law program, I applied for a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) with a focus on the Central Asian region in 2022. Following my acceptance, I graduated from the program in 2024. That same year, I applied for a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree at Indiana University Bloomington’s Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS). I am currently a PhD student in CEUS, specializing in Turkic studies. My research focus is on Hunnic language, culture, and history.
However.... when I am not researching the Huns, I am actively buying, making, and selling jewelry, textiles, and art. And while I deal in modern, vintage, and antique items from the Middle East and Eastern Asia, I am mostly experienced in the Central Asian region, past and present. I am also a co-owner of TurkishFolkArt along with its founder and my mentor, Vedat Karadağ.
Vedat Karadağ
Vedat Karadağ is an inveterate and experienced traveler, an enthusiastic promoter of the appreciation of Anatolia and Central Asia, its textiles and oriental rugs, and he loves to expose others to the many varied aspects of Turkic culture and to their artistic traditions.
Originally, he graduated from Gazi Üniversitesi in Ankara, Türkiye with degrees in Business Administration and Economics. But by the early 1980s, he had embarked on his long love affair with ethnography and textiles arts. He followed his early travels with academic field researchers from the Ankara Üniversitesi Folk Art Department. Since then, he has been a participant and speaker at various meetings of rug and textile societies in the U.S. and has attended numerous international textile conferences across Europe and America. He has delivered a lecture on deceptive new Anatolian and Persian rugs in the 12th I.C.O.C Stockholm 2011– International Conference of Oriental Rugs. He was invited by Prof. Dr. Walter Denny for a talk to the restoration department of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he is a member of the Textile Museum of Washington D.C. and the Textile Society of America. He has also led many exciting textile and culture-oriented trips to Central Asia, Syria, Iran and Greater Anatolia where he takes great delight in showing off the work of local artisans to North American travelers.
Mahsuma Adkhamova
So.... I was originally an accounting and political science major, having graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts, respectively. My plan was to become an accounting lawyer, a prospect my family heartily approved of. Yet, I found myself spending more time reading Old Turkic runes and Chinese histories than I did studying for the LSAT. So, when I successfully passed the latter, I could not help but feel disappointed. Instead of applying to a law program, I applied for a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) with a focus on the Central Asian region in 2022. Following my acceptance, I graduated from the program in 2024. That same year, I applied for a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree at Indiana University Bloomington’s Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS). I am currently a PhD student in CEUS, specializing in Turkic studies. My research focus is on Hunnic language, culture, and history.
However.... when I am not researching the Huns, I am actively buying, making, and selling jewelry, textiles, and art. And while I deal in modern, vintage, and antique items from the Middle East and Eastern Asia, I am mostly experienced in the Central Asian region, past and present. I am also a co-owner of TurkishFolkArts along with its founder and my mentor, Vedat Karadağ.
