Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul is hosting "Elections in Turkey and Greece: Strengthening or Straining Relations?," a webinar discussion that explores the impact of the recent elections in both countries on their bilateral relationship.
With Turkey and Greece having recently held elections, and with the latter now preparing for another round on June 15, the political landscape in the region may undergo significant changes. It is crucial to understand how these electoral outcomes will shape the future dynamics between the two countries and their foreign policy.
We are honored to have two distinguished experts join us as speakers for this webinar. Soli Özel, a respected faculty member at Kadir Has University and a fellow-in-residence at Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul, will provide valuable insights into the political developments in Turkey and their potential implications for the relationship with Greece. We are also privileged to have Professor Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International and European Studies (CIES) at Kadir Has University, who will share his expertise on the Greek electoral landscape and its potential impact on bilateral relations.
During the webinar, our esteemed speakers will delve into the complexities of the electoral processes in both countries and explore various factors that might influence the future course of Turkey-Greece relations. They will examine key issues such as regional security, energy cooperation, historical disputes, and prospects for dialogue and cooperation.
Please join us for an insightful discussion to explore Greek-Turkish relations and possibilities for fostering future cooperation between the two countries.
Speaker bios:
Soli Özel holds a BA in Economics from Benningon College (1981) and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-1983).
A senior lecturer at Istanbul Kadir Has University, and the fellow-in-residence at Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul, Özel was a “Europe’s Futures” fellow at Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) in Vienna in 2021-2022. In the year of the pandemic, he taught a course at the American University in Central Asia (AUCA) and at the Menton campus of Sciences-Po. The same year he also hosted two series of webinars for Institut Montaigne on the American elections and the changing geopolitics of the Middle East. He was a Bernstein Fellow at the Schell Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School and a visiting lecturer in the Political Science Department of Yale. He has been a columnist at Nokta magazine and GazetePazar, Yeni Binyıl, Habertürk and Sabah newspapers. Currently he writes for Deutsche Welle-Turkish, Politikyol and does a weekly commentary on world affairs for Gazete Duvar TV. He is also a contributor to the blog of Institut Montaigne. He held fellowships at Oxford, the EU Institute of Strategic Studies and was a Fisher Family Fellow of the “Future of Diplomacy Program” at the Belfer Center of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He taught at UC Santa Cruz, SAIS, University of Washington, Northwestern University, Hebrew University, Boğaziçi University, SciencesPo-PSIA, and Yale. He was a Richard von Weizsacker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin between 2015-2017 and a visiting fellow at Institut Montaigne in Paris in 2018.
He is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Dimitrios Triantaphyllou is a professor of international relations and the director of the Center for International and European Studies (CIES) at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. He holds a BA in political science and history from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA and Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He is the author of numerous articles and book reviews, and has previously served in various capacities in a number of research and academic institutions such as the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP); the EU Institute for Security Studies; the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics; the University of the Aegean, Rhodes; and the International Center for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS). He also served as an advisor at the Hellenic Ministry for Foreign Affairs and as foreign policy advisor to a Member of the European Parliament. He is the associate editor of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies Journal and an editor of the Eastern Journal of European Studies. He is a member of the Greek-Turkish Forum; the co-convener of the Commission on the Black Sea; a member of the Advisory Boards of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, the International Institute for Peace, Vienna; the Black Sea NGO Forum, Bucharest; and the Corporate Social Responsibility Association of Turkey. He is also a senior associate at the Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence at the University of Athens. His more recent applied and research interests include Black Sea Security and Politics; EU foreign and neighborhood policies, Greek-Turkish Relations, and Sustainable Development.
Merve İspahani (moderator) is the Academic Programs Manager at Columbia Global Centers | Istanbul. Merve received her Ph.D. degree from Columbia University, Department of History. Her dissertation “Building Sovereignty in the Late Ottoman World: Imperial Subjects, Consular Networks and Documentation of Individual Identities” examines the formation of Ottoman sovereignty in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries at the disciplinary intersection of international law and history. Merve also holds Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degrees in History from Boğaziçi University.
