Born in Ankara, Sıdıka Özdil studied composition with Necil Kâzım Akses, Nevit Kodallı, piano with Nimet Karatekin and conducting at the Ankara State Conservatory. After being awarded a state scholarship, she studied advanced composition with Paul Patterson and Hans Werner Henze at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Here, she became the first recipient of a Recital Diploma in composition. There she attended the seminars of Penderecki, Messiaen, Berio, Takemitsu and Xenakis . Sıdıka Özdil has won many prizes and scholarships for her compositions including a Leverhulme Fellowship. She also studied conducting with George Hurst, Colin Metters and Alan Hazeldine in England and in Italy with Carlo Mario Giullini on German Romantic Music. 

In 1990, she was an Arts Producer for the BBC World Service. Meanwhile, her works were being performed and broadcast in many places including New York, Washington, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Merlbourne, Tel Aviv, Malasia, Paris, London and Vienna where two of her works were chosen for prestigious Festival, Wien Modern. Her Harp piece, Aganta Burina Burinata is now part of National Curriculum at the Paris Conservatoire and it was recorded by the Dutch Harpist Godalieve Schrama. She was also awarded by the Arts Council of Great Britain for her Global Mass which was premiered in Breda Festival. 

In 1993, Ministry of Culture appointed Sıdıka Özdil and her sister Inci Özdil (Turkey's First Female Conductor) to establish a new orchestra in Turkey, the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra. There, both sisters became the first female and youngest persons to establish an orchestra. 

In 2001, her latest work "Facing Phaselis" was commissioned by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where it was premiered by the Royal Opera House Soloists as a part of their International Concert Series. 

In 2008, her Dances for String Quartet was performed as part of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Concert series and it was broadcast live on SBS radio and ABC TV.

Sıdıka Özdil is also one of the five founders of Orkestra@Modern (2003) which is specialised on Turkish composers’ pieces and contemporary music. 

Since 2013, she is teaching composition at the H.U. Ankara State Conservatory.