He was born in Kahramanmaraş in 1963 and graduated from Adana Boys High School in 1981. In 1986, he completed his law degree at Dicle University Faculty of Law, and his master’s degree in private law in 1989. In 1993, he gained his doctoral degree in private law with his dissertation written under advisement of Prof. Dr. Erdoğan Moroğlu at Istanbul University Faculty of Law.
He started working as faculty member in 1993, gave lectures in both Dicle University and Kocaeli University, gained his associate professor degree in Kocaeli University Faculty of Law in 2000 and his professor degree at the same university in 2006. Prof. Bahtiyar still is president of department of Commercial Law at Yeditepe University Faculty of Law. In addition to Yeditepe University, he also give undergraduate and postgraduate lectures at Kadir Has University and Bahçeşehir University. He is married to Attorney Ayla Özel Bahtiyar with a child named Eren Kutay.