Born in Ankara on May 16, 1954, O. Can Ünver graduated from TED Ankara College in 1972. He is a graduate of Ludwig Maximilian University (Political Science, Communication and Turcology)) with the title of Magister Artium (1981). Ünver received his PhD in 2003 from Hacettepe University’s, Institute of History of Atatürk's Principles and Reforms, with his thesis "The Place of Orientalism in Germany's Policies on Turkey - 19th-20th Centuries".