She graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of History (1997). 
She completed her master’s degree (2001) with the thesis titled “The Abolition of the Janissary Army and Its Reflections” at the same university and department (2009) and her doctorate with the thesis “Rebelling for the Old Order: Ottoman Bosnia, 1826–1836” (2009). 
A revised version of her doctoral thesis was published by Küre Publishing under the title “In the Name of the Old Order: Ottoman Bosnian Uprising (1826–1836)” and by I. B. Tauris under the title “The Ottoman Empire and the Bosnian Uprising Janissaries, Modernization, and Rebellion in the Nineteenth Century.” 
Novili Ömer Efendi’s work titled “History-i Bosnia” was published by Küre Publications, and “18th Century Ottoman War Prisoners” was published by Vadi Publications. 
Fatma Sel Turhan worked as an editor at “Anlayış magazine”, as a Balkan Specialist at SETA Foundation, as Strategy Development Manager at Yunus Emre Institute, and as a lecturer at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University, Department of History. 
She is currently a faculty member at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Istanbul Technical University.