During the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) in which his father and other relatives were killed, he came to Istanbul to study in the Ortaköy Orphans' School.
In France he studied history in the University of Lyon In 1933 he returned to Istanbul and was appointed as a history associate professor in the School of letters of Istanbul University.
In 1942 he came to Ankara as a professor to serve in the School of Language and History - Geography (Turkish: Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi).
Between 30 April 1948 and 22 June 1949 he was elected as the rector of Ankara University.In 1960 he gained the title distinguished professor.
In the Constituent Assembly of Turkey in 1960–1961 term, he was elected as the speaker of the committee which was responsible for the new constitution.