Public lecture

Press release — 26 March 2014

Professor Oktay Tanrisever from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara will give a public lecture entitled

Turkey’s Relations with Europe and the Middle East during the 2010s

on 3 April 2014 from 14.15-15.45 in the UT Faculty of Social Sciences, Lossi 36, room 304.

Professor Tanrisever will explore various key issues in Turkey’s relations with Europe and the Middle East during the 2010s. He will argues that Turkey’s failure to maintain close coordination with the EU and its lack of progress in membership negotiations with the EU, as well as its self-styled and increasingly failed policy towards Middle East have deepened the chronic gap between expectations and capabilities that characterizes Turkey’s foreign policy. He will suggest that Turkey should re-energize its Europeanization policy by promoting a new wave of democratization inside Turkey as well as by pursuing closer coordination of its foreign policy with its Euro-Atlantic partners. Specific issues to be discussed include Ankara’s policies towards the EU accession process, the challenges of its energy diplomacy, its relations with Iran and Afghanistan, the prospects for peaceful resolution of the Cyprus problem, normalization of relations with Armenia, implications of the Arab uprisings and the Syrian crisis as well as the impact of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine on Turkey’s policies in the Black Sea region.

Oktay F. Tanrisever is a Professor of International Relations at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara. He is also Associate Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Public Administration and the Chairperson of the Area Studies PhD Program at the same university. After graduating with a BSc and an MSc in International Relations at the Middle East Technical University, he received his PhD from the University of London. His research interests include the foreign policies of Turkey and Russia, security and peace-building in the Black Sea region, the Caucasus and Asia, international politics of energy, water and environment as well as theories of international relations. His recent publications include Afghanistan and Central Asia: NATO’s Role in Regional Security since 9/11 (Amsterdam: IOS Press, 2013), Turkey and Russia in the Black Sea Region: Dynamics of Cooperation and Conflict (EDAM Black Sea Discussion Papers) and numerous articles about Afghanistan and Central Asia.