He graduated from Bursa Erkek Lisesi in 2001 and completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences at Istanbul University in 2006. After graduation, Telci moved to the United Kingdom for language training and stayed in London until September 2007. He then relocated to Germany to pursue graduate studies at Hochschule Bremen, where he earned his master’s degree in European Studies in 2008. Prior to returning to Turkey, he spent three months at KU Leuven in Belgium as a visiting researcher.

Returning to Turkey in 2009, Telci began his doctoral studies in the Department of International Relations at Sakarya University, where he also started his academic career as a research assistant. In the summer of 2012, he attended a two-month Arabic language course at the University of Jordan. He then moved to Egypt and spent one year as a visiting researcher at the Civilization Studies Center of Cairo University. During this period, alongside his doctoral research, he continued advanced Arabic language training at the university’s language center. He completed his PhD in 2015 with a dissertation titled “The Role of Domestic and External Actors in the Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Egypt: 2011–2015.” The dissertation was later published by SETA under the title Egypt: Revolution and Counter-Revolution.

Between 2014 and 2018, Telci served as the founding deputy director of the Middle East Institute (ORMER) established within Sakarya University. During the same period, he was a founding co-editor of the Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (Türkiye Ortadoğu Çalışmaları Dergisi) and served as founding co-chair of the organizing committee for the annual Middle East Congress on Politics and Society from its inception in 2012 through the fourth edition in 2018.

From 2016 to 2019, he worked as a foreign policy researcher at SETA, focusing particularly on the Gulf and North Africa. During this time, he implemented joint projects with international organizations. In 2017, he led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) supported project titled “Country of Origin Information: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.” In 2018, he contributed as a researcher to the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) supported project “Strengthening Turkey’s Decision-Making Capacity on Refugees,” which aimed to enhance Turkey’s institutional capacity in refugee-related policymaking.

Telci served as Vice President of Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), Turkey's leading think-tank on the region, from 2019 to 2024. During his tenure, he established and coordinated the Gulf Studies and Africa Studies programs within the institution. He also served as the Founding Editor-in-Chief of Ortadoğu Publishing House (Ortadoğu Yayınları) from its launch in 2020 until 2024. During the same period, he also acted as editor of Ortadoğu Etütleri and Ortadoğu Analiz, two journals published by ORSAM. As part of ORSAM’s research projects, he conducted fieldwork in countries including Iraq, Jordan, Libya, and Sudan.

Between 2020 and 2024, he participated as a researcher in the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) supported project led by Georgetown University titled “Managing National Security Risks: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities in Qatar’s Energy Sector.”

In 2024–2025, he served as a visiting faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. During the fall semester, he taught courses on “Gulf Politics and Security” and “Negotiation and Conflict Resolution” and in the spring semester he offered courses on “International Law and Organizations”, “Defense and Strategic Studies” and “Military Studies and Terrorism”.

Over the course of his 16-year academic career at Sakarya University, he was appointed Assistant Professor in 2015, Associate Professor in 2018, and Full Professor in 2025. During this period, he also served as a member of the Board of the Middle East Institute and as Chair of the Department of International Politics.

In February 2026, he was appointed as a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ibn Haldun University.

In the course of his academic work, Telci has visited 18 countries across the Middle East, from Morocco to Iran. He has also taken part in academic research, fieldwork, election observation missions, institutional collaborations, and international programs in more than 60 countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

His research focuses on the Middle East, the Gulf, North Africa, and East Africa, with particular emphasis on comparative politics, foreign policy, and security studies. His scholarly articles have appeared in journals such as Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Migration Studies, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, and Insight Turkey. In addition to six books, he has authored numerous policy reports, analyses, and opinion pieces published by think tanks and media outlets. His commentary on current affairs has been featured in Anadolu Agency, Sabah, TRT World, Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Le Monde, and Middle East Eye.