“Turkish Politics and Policy in the Region: Moving in Which Direction?”

Science 607-608, Byblos campus

The Department of Social Sciences is organizing a lecture entitled “Turkish Politics and Policy in the Region: Moving in Which Direction?” by guest speaker Dr. Ömer Taşpınar.

Recent internal political developments in Turkey have raised many eyebrows. Steps taken to pressure the opposition and censure the press have been of concern to many both locally and regionally.  Dr. Taşpınar will be discussing how these developments are affecting Turkish politics and regional policy.

Dr. Taşpınar is professor of National Security Strategy at the U.S. National War College and the director of the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution.  He has held consulting positions at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in Washington, and at the strategic planning department of TOFAS-FIAT in Istanbul.  His research focuses on Turkey-EU and Turkish-American relations; transatlantic relations; Muslims in Europe; Islamic radicalism; human development in the Islamic world; and American foreign policy in the Middle East.  Taşpınar is the author of two books: Political Islam and Kurdish Nationalism in Turkey (Routledge, 2005) and Fighting Radicalism with Human Development: Freedom, Education and Growth in the Islamic World (Brookings Press, 2006). Some of his recent publications include: “New Parameters in U.S.-German-Turkish Relations” (AICGS, February 2005); “The Anatomy of Anti-Americanism in Turkey” (Insight Turkey, July-August 2005); “Turkey’s European Quest” (Brookings Analysis Paper, September 2004); “Europe’s Muslim Street” (Foreign Policy, March-April 2003); “An Uneven Fit: The Turkish Model and the Arab World” (Brookings Analysis Paper, August 2003).Taşpınar has a Ph.D. and M.A. in European studies and international economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and a B.A. in political science from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

All are welcome to attend.