After graduating from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of International Relations, he completed his master's degree at Central Oklahoma University and his doctorate at Kentucky University, in the USA. He worked as a faculty member at Abant İzzet Baysal University and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University.

He served as the Secretary General of the Interuniversity Board, Advisor to the President of the Council of Higher Education, and the Coordinator of the Council of Higher Education Foreign Relations Unit between 2012-2014. Ataman, who has been working at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research SETA since 2011, has been writing columns on foreign policy issues in the Daily Sabah since 2017. Ataman was appointed as a member of the Presidential Security and Foreign Policy Council in 2025.

Prof. Ataman has edited several books including Dünya Çatışma Bölgeleri I-II, Küresel Güç ve Refah, July 15 Coup Attempt in Turkey, Eastern Mediterranean and Turkey, Karabakh : From Conflict To Resolution, Türkiye's Foreign Policy, Al-Aqsa Flood. He is the editor of Insight Turkey and Ortadoğu Yıllığı journals. His academic papers on Turkish foreign policy and Middle East politics, especially on the Gulf countries, have been published in various Turkish, English and Arabic journals and books.