He was born in Istanbul in 1947 in the family of Osman Kocaoğlu, one of the leaders of the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic.

In 1982, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "National Identity in Soviet Central Asian Prose Fiction of the Post-Stalin Period: 1953-1982" under the scientific supervision of professor Edward Allworth, who was founding director at Columbia of both the Program on Soviet Nationality Problems and the Center for the Study of Central Asia.

At that time, his father Osman Kocaoğlu was often forced to leave Turkey due to political pressure and move for work.

The Osman Kocaoğlu family returned to Istanbul in 1957, and Timur continued his education at Ahmet Rasim Elementary School.

[7][8] Columbia University professor Edward Allworth being unaware of Osman Kocaoğlu's death sent a letter to him.

Edward Allworth helped Timur Kocaoğlu to come to America through a grant when he noticed that he was interested in the literature of the peoples of Central Asia.

The scientist wrote hundreds of scientific articles in Uzbek and English during the 17 years of his work at Radio Liberty.