We were delighted to welcome members of the South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX) programme at St Antony’s College back to GSF for an event which marked the 10th anniversary of our annual collaboration. This year, they gave a seminar entitled ‘After Turkey’s Elections: A Change Of Direction Or More Of The Same?’, drawn from the conclusions of their recent research.
President Erdoğan won a convincing victory in the second round of the Turkish presidential elections on 28th May. But the fact that he had to go to a second round indicates that support for him is uneven across the country and Turkish society is highly polarised. Moreover, he faces many difficult issues, both domestic (the economy, the consequences of the devastating earthquake, migration, local elections in 2024), as well as international (relations with NATO and the European Union, the continuing response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, foreign policies in Syria, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean). The West, for its part, is divided as to how to respond to President Erdoğan’s re-election and what to expect during the next five years. Will it be a change of direction or more of the same?
The event took place in the National Liberal Club (David Lloyd George Room), Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE on Wednesday 28th June 2023. It was convened by Lord Lothian, GSF’s Chairman, and co-chaired by Sir David Madden, Chair of the SEESOX Steering Committee and Distinguished Friend at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
The seminar programme is available here.
Participants
The following speakers will be participating and a full programme will be sent out to those registered to attend:
- Dr. Othon Anastasakis
Director of the European Studies Centre and of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), St Antony’s College, University of Oxford - Dr. Başak Kale
Associate Professor of International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Ankara - Dr. Mehmet Karli
Co-ordinator, Programme on Contemporary Turkey, South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
DR OTHON ANASTASAKIS is Director of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), and Director of the European Studies Centre of the University of Oxford; he is Senior Research Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford; Visiting Professor at the Prague School of Economics and Business; Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada; Region Head of Europe in Oxford Analytica. He is the Principal Investigator of the Greek Diaspora Project at the University of Oxford and of the Oxford-Berlin partnership project on Migration Diplomacy: EU-Turkey relations. He is the author and co-editor of several books including more recently Diaspora Engagement in Times Of Severe Economic Crisis: Greece And Beyond (Palgrave Macmillan 2022);The Greek Military Dictatorship: Revisiting A Troubled Past (with Lagos, Berghahn 2021); The Legacy Of Yugoslavia: Politics, Economy And Society (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2020). Balkan Legacies of The Great War: The Past Is Never Dead(Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). His research interests include: Populism, illiberalism and far right; Comparative European politics; Migration and diaspora studies; Balkan party politics; South East European geopolitics; Greek and Turkish foreign policies; Greek political economy; Russia and the Balkans. He received his BA in Economics from the University of Athens, his MA in Comparative Politics and International Relations from Columbia University, New York and his PhD in Comparative Government from the LSE.
DR. BAŞAK KALE is the founder and director of the ethics and privacy compliance consultancy company Ethica UK Consultancy based in London. She is also an Associate Professor of International Relations, Middle East Technical University, Ankara. She is the coordinator of the Migration Research Program (METUMIR) of the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence Center for European Studies, METU. In addition to these positions, she is also an independent ethics expert working for the European Commission at the Ethics and Research Integrity Sector, DG Research and Innovation. She is a specialist on European integration, Turkey-EU relations, politics of international migration, and research ethics. She has taught and conducted research at various institutions including Harvard University, UC Berkeley, Boğaziçi University, University of British Columbia (UBC), Simon Fraser University and Hitotshubashi University (Tokyo). She has extended experience in project initiation, management and overall project assessment focusing on European integration, migration studies and Turkey-EU relations. Most recently, she has completed the GMF Alumni Leadership Action Project on ‘Inclusive Entrepreneurship: Bringing Together Refugee, Migrant and Host Communities’ in collaboration with METUMIR, TOBB and EntreComp Europe, which was funded by the German Marshall Fund of the US.
DR. MEHMET KARLI is the Co-ordinator of the Programme on Contemporary Turkey at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford and a co-investigator of the Migration Diplomacy and Turkey-EU Relations research project within the framework of the Oxford-Berlin Research Partnership. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of International Law at Galatasaray University Law Faculty, Director of the European Studies Centre at Galatasaray University and a research associate of Centre for International Studies of the DPIR, University of Oxford. He teaches international law, international economic law (international trade and investment) and international human rights law. At Oxford, he taught the course on International law and the Middle East. Karli holds D.Phil, M.Phil and M.Jur degrees from the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, and an LL.B. degree from the Faculty of Law of Galatasaray University. Karli is also a practising lawyer focusing mainly on the resolution of international disputes and application of international law.
SIR DAVID MADDEN (Co-Chair) joined the UK Diplomatic Service in 1970, and has extensive experience of working in places on the brink of break-up (Yugoslavia in the 1980s), those divided (Berlin in the 1970s, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina), and those where there are regional tensions. As British High Commissioner in Cyprus (1994-1999), he played a full role in negotiations on a Cyprus settlement and EU accession. As British Ambassador in Greece (1999-2004), he helped the Greek government achieve a break-through against terrorism. He has a degree in the History of Art from the Courtauld Institute and is a published author (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Unthank Books, 2011), and Balkan Legacies of The Great War: The Past Is Never Dead (with Othon Anastasakis and Elizabeth Roberts, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). He also co-edited The Legacy Of Yugoslavia: Politics, Economy And Society (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2020). He is Vice Chair of Compassion in World Farming.