He graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University with a B.Sc degree in 1983. Awarded a scholarship by the Turkish Ministry of Industry in 1984, he was educated at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (USA), where he obtained an M.Sc degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1986 and another M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering in 1987 from the same university. Kotil continued his studies there and received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1991.