Onaran taught in schools before he became a full-time correspondent for the Associated Press, and moved back to Ankara, Turkey in 1995 to cover wars and politics.
Onaran found himself covering the war zones first, then switched to financial journalism.
[5] Onaran has worked for Bloomberg News since 1998 in various capacities including as Istanbul bureau chief and magazine writer.
Onaran moved back to New York City in 2006, where he covered Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns during the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Onaran's work has also been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and numerous other publications around the world.