# Jessica Salley Ottoman/Turkish History A.B. 2014 ![salley_j.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum4571/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/nelcnew/files/salley_j.jpg?itok=SYikwji8) email *Why NELC?* When I was in high school, I read many books by Orhan Pamuk and, in this way, I became interested in Turkey--its politics in particular. When I arrived at Harvard, I enrolled in Turkish, intending to pursue a concentration in Government with a focus in the Middle East. But I loved my language course and I became as interested in the history and culture of Turkey as I had been in its politics. I chose NELC because its interdisciplinary nature would allow me to focus on these themes. Recent related experience: Hellenic American University internship in Athens, Greece; photographer at excavation of Sardis in Turkey; thesis research in Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara, Turkey and archaeological fieldwork in Armenia and Georgia. Thesis title: Izmir from the Ashes: Urban Reconstruction, Modernity, and Nationalism in 1930s Turkey - ## People Type [Recent Alumni (Graduate and Undergraduate)](/people-type/recent-alumni-graduate-and-undergraduate) - ## People [Alumni](/alumni)