The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) will be holding an exclusive roundtable event with Pieter Cleppe, the Head of the Brussels office of Open Europe on 25th April 2017.

Please see speaker biography below.

The event will take place between 4-5PM on Tuesday, 25 April 2017 in Waterloo.

Please email us on info@ceftus.org to register your interest if you would like to attend this event.

Please note that this event is invitation only.

A referendum on the proposed changes to Turkey’s constitution will take place on 16th April 2017. The changes proposed would significantly alter the structure of Turkey’s government and so the vote has big implications for Turkey’s future.

During the referendum period, Turkey’s diplomatic relations with several EU countries have been strained. The result of the referendum will likely have an impact on Turkey’s accession to the EU. In this exclusive roundtable, Pieter Cleppe will discuss the referendum result and Turkey-EU relations.

Speaker Biography

Pieter Cleppe is the Head of the Brussels office of Open Europe. He is a frequent contributor to the broadcast and print media across Europe, frequently discussing EU reform, the refugee crisis and the eurocrisis. A trained lawyer, Pieter previously practiced law in Belgium, and has worked as a cabinet advisor and speechwriter to the Belgian State Secretary for Administrative Reform. Pieter also previously worked as an analyst at the Belgium’s Itinera Institute, which he helped to found. He received his legal training at the Catholic University of Leuven, and also studied law and economics at the universities of Hamburg, Bologna and Vienna.

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Roundtable with Pieter Cleppe ‘Referendum Result: Turkey-EU Relations’

Pieter Cleppe is the Head of the Brussels office of Open Europe. He is a frequent contributor to the broadcast and print media across Europe, frequently discussing EU reform, the refugee crisis and the eurocrisis. A trained lawyer, Pieter previously practiced law in Belgium, and has worked as a cabinet advisor and speechwriter to the Belgian State Secretary for Administrative Reform. Pieter also previously worked as an analyst at the Belgium’s Itinera Institute, which he helped to found. He received his legal training at the Catholic University of Leuven, and also studied law and economics at the universities of Hamburg, Bologna and Vienna

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Joint Forum ‘After Turkey’s referendum what hopes for a Cyprus Settlement?’

Sener Elcil has been the General Secretary of KTOS, the Turkish Cypriot Primary Teachers Trade Union, since 2001. He supported Turkish Cypriot Leader, Mustafa Akinci from the day he decided to stand. He works on education, with teachers, pupils and schools in the north of Cyprus, but also with Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research, and for the establishment of the Home for Cooperation in the Buffer Zone. In 2009 he was elected to  represent Cyprus as a whole on the Executive Board of the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE).  He has since made arrangements to alternate with his equivalent Greek Cypriot teacher trade union leader. He has led the Turkish Cypriot Trade Union Platform to both the European Parliament and the UK Parliament.  Last year he won the 2016 European Citizen’s Prize awarded by the European Parliament. He was also awarded a prize with his colleague and friend Christos Efthymiou for their work together in the Bicommunal Peace Initiative in which capacity they have visited the two Cyprus Leaders, Nicos Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci, and leaders of the Cypriot political parties. He has worked to get left-wing parties in the north of Cyprus to work together including the Social Democratic Party whose representatives addressed a CEFTUS meeting. The setting up of the Education Technical committee last year reflects the importance of education to the future of Cyprus. This year he has backed the platform to urge the 100,000 Turks living in Cyprus to vote No in the presidential referendum but is aware that many Cypriots believe that a Yes in the Referendum is better for a Cyprus settlement. He is in the UK to be awarded another prize from the Teachers Union, NASUWT and brief people about what is happening in Cyprus and the peace talks.

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Joint Forum ‘Referendum Result and Future for Freedom of Expression in Turkey’

Guney Yildiz is Special Adviser to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and Turkish and Kurdish Affairs Analyst. Previously, he was a Broadcast Journalist with the BBC World Service where he covered international news and current affairs specialising in Turkey and the Kurds. He has published articles and provided expert opinion on Turkey and the Kurds for various TV, Radio and Online outlets. Yildiz has worked for the BBC’s Turkish Service and Turkish Daily News, the country’s only English language daily at the time. He completed his master’s degree in Politics and Communication at the London School of Economics following his undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Middle East Technical University. He has also worked as a research assistant at the Department of Communication and Design at Bilkent University.

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Joint Forum ‘Referendum Result and Future for Freedom of Expression in Turkey’

British Turkish technologist Alp Toker founded Turkey Blocks using his own savings after being unable to find out what happened to friends and relatives in the aftermath of the Ankara bombings in 2015. Using Raspberry Pi based technology, Turkey Blocks detects mass-scale social media censorship, internet restrictions and power outages in real-time. Using this tool, Turkey Blocks has since broken news of more than 14 mass-censorship incidents online during politically significant events. The tool has proven so successful that it has been implemented in other locations around the world.

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Joint Forum ‘Referendum Result and Future for Freedom of Expression in Turkey’

Melody Patry has been on numerous delegations to Turkey, provides research and analysis for Index for Censorship’s policy formulation and works in building relationships with stakeholders to support the organisation’s domestic and international programmes. Previously she worked as a political adviser for the European External Action Service and as writer and videographer supporting human rights NGOs in Egypt.

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Would you like to become a member of CEFTUS or donate?

We provide a voice for the entire Turkish-speaking community in the UK at a governmental level, and we have helped raise the profile and improve the perception of the community. We foster lively debate around issues affecting Turkey and the diaspora, challenging preconceptions.

Our regular events in the Houses of Parliament allow us to create ties with politicians and raise the profile of the community. As a CEFTUS member, you will be tapped into a network of expertise. We arrange for the views of our members to directly reach influential Members of Parliament. We hold special, smaller intimate meetings involving MPs interested in Turkish/Kurdish/Cypriot communities and related issues, as well as with our speakers, for our members. These allow for far more direct access. This sort of access would allow you to gain invaluable insight in relaxed, informal settings.

Alongside our large public forums, we hold regular smaller, more intimate events, breakfasts or roundtables with prominent experts, for our members.

We regularly  produce briefings and news digests on current events in Turkey, and hold in-depth round table discussions. As a CEFTUS member you would have exclusive access to our work, events, and you would have a special place in our publications. Take a look at here to view our briefings, reports and analyses.

Click here to see our 5th annual magazine from last year, which marked our five year anniversary with a round-up of our work up to that point. Please take a look at our 2015 magazine and 2014 magazine as well.

As an independently-funded organisation, we are able to bring together people from all sides of the community and political spectrum, allowing us to advance our interests as one. However, this means that we receive no government funding and, as such, we need your support, either by becoming a member or through making a regular donation. To be able to bring together speakers such as journalists, academics and politicians from Turkey, we have to cover a variety of costs, such as flights, hotels and visas. We have so far hosted high profile politicians from the AK Party, the CHP and the HDP and experts not only from Turkey, but also from Europe and the US.

Please take a look at here to see options of CEFTUS Membership and Subscription as a guide. As requirements and interests of each member individual and organisation would differ, we would tailor your membership accordingly. We would love to discuss with you soon what you would be interested in and how we can meet your requirements.

Please email us on info@ceftus.org or call on 02071834272.

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The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) is pleased to invite you to an exclusive forum with prominent Turkish security expert, Dr Metin Gurcan on 22 May 2017.

Please see speaker biography below.

This event will be kindly chaired by Dr Francesco F. Milan, Teaching Fellow at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London/Joint Services Command and Staff College.

The event will take place between 5.00 -6:30PM on 22nd May 2017 at RUSI.

Full address is 61 Whitehall, Westminster, London SW1A 2ET.

Please email us on info@ceftus.org to register your interest if you would like to attend this event.

Please note that this event is invitation only and you will be asked to show your confirmation email to attend the event.

Metin Gurcan’s talk aims to present a model for ‘damage control’ in the Turkish security sphere following last year’s attempted coup d’etat. He will look at Turkish civil-military relations, Turkey’s security architecture and security policies, and Turkey’s fight against the PKK, extreme Salafi/Jihadist networks and members of the Gulen movement in the post-coup and post-referendum context.

In the aftermath of last year’s coup, Turkey faces a dilemma as to whether to monopolise state control of the military or democratise it. Monopolisation would take power away from the military elites and put it in the hands of the elected executive presidency, allowing for strict civilian control of the military. Democratisation on the other hand would see power spread between the elected president, the elected government, and parliamentary and civil society actors, such as academia, think tanks, and the media so as to create a more effective military oversight and monitoring system.  

Gurcan will analyse the possible implications of a hasty and large-scale civilianisation process on the nature of Turkish civil-military relations. He will then explore the extent to which the Turkish military’s institutional identity has evolved from a ‘monolithic whole’ into a ‘polylithic formation’, comprised of many separate micro-identities, reflecting the differing worldviews and attitudes towards change of various factions within the military elite. This transition from ‘monolithic’ to ‘polylithic’ is driven by the weakening power of the Chief of General Staff and seems to be the prime risk factor within the military. Gurcan will talk about the threats faced by Turkey’s military today and talk about ways of mitigating and managing these.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker Biography

Dr Metin Gurcan is a columnist for the Washington-based Al Monitor News Agency writing about security related issues and is a regular contributor to the Turkish T24 News Agency.

After graduating from the Turkish War Academy in 1998 with distinction, Dr Gurcan joined the Turkish Special Forces and served in the Southeast of Turkey, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo and Northern Iraq as a team commander, military adviser, and liaison officer between 2000 and 2008. In 2010, Dr Gurcan obtained an MA degree in Security Studies from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey with a thesis analyzing the center-periphery relationship between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurds with a focus on Kirkuk.

From 2010 to 2014, Dr Gurcan worked as an analyst officer at the Turkish General Staff. After resigning from the military in 2015, Dr Gurcan obtained his PhD from the Department of Political Science of Bilkent University in 2016 with a dissertation entitled ‘Opening the Blackbox: The Transformation of the Turkish Military’.

In 2014, Dr Gurcan worked as a visiting research fellow at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War (CCW) Program, and conducted research about the changing nature of conflict and counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts in tribal and Muslim settings. Dr Gurcan has been published extensively in Turkish and foreign academic journals such as Turkish Studies, Small Wars Journal and Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, on issues such as perceptions on the changing nature of warfare, terrorism, Turkish civil-military relations, military history and Turkish foreign policy. Gurcan’s first book entitled ‘The Gallipoli Campaign:The Turkish Perspective’ and co-edited with  Prof. Robert Johnson of Oxford University was published by Routledge in April 2016. His second book titled “What Went Wrong in Afghanistan? Understanding Counter-insurgency in Tribalized Rural Muslim Environments” presenting a critique of COIN efforts in Afghanistan was published by Helion & Company in June 2016.

Dr Francesco F. Milan is a Teaching Fellow at the Defence Studies Department, King’s College London/Joint Services Command and Staff College. His doctoral dissertation (War Studies, King’s College London) focused on the evolution of Turkish civil-military relations. Dr Milan has written extensively on Turkey’s security issues, and has recently published “Turkey: What Hides Behind a Failed Coup Attempt” on The RUSI Journal.

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Writing as a survival tool in these “interesting times”

The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) in partnership with Turkish Studies at SOAS and SOAS Kurdish Society is pleased to invite you to a public forum with one of Turkey’s best known novelists and political commentators, Ece Temelkuran on 16 May 2017.

Turkey is currently in the spotlight over issues relating to freedom of speech and expression, an issue with which Ece Temelkuran has repeatedly engaged during her prestigious career. Her recent novel, Women Who Blow on Knots, approaches another issue currently receiving considerable attention, namely women in Middle Eastern societies. Ece will be speaking against a backdrop of the recent global rise in populism, as well as women’s experiences in a post-truth age.

Ece will present on these and other pressing contemporary issues at this talk, with a Q&A to allow for a further fruitful exploration of these important subjects.

Please see speaker biography below.

This event will be kindly chaired by Mr Gamon McLellan, Teaching Fellow in Turkish at the Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Near and Middle East at SOAS.

The event will take place between 7.00 and 9:00PM on 16 May 2017 in Khalili Lecture Theatre at SOAS (Torrington Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 0XG).

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker Biography

Ece Temelkuran is one of the Turkey’s best known novelists and political commentators, and has been published in The Guardian, The New York Times, New Statesman, Frankfurter Allgemeine and Der Spiegel. She has lived in several countries such as Lebanon, Tunisia, France and the UK while writing her novels. She was a visiting fellow at Saint Anthony’s College, University of Oxford. Her recent novels “Banana Sounds”, “Women Who Blow On Knots” and “The Time of Mute Swans” have been published in several languages. During her 20 years as a journalist, she was ranked as Turkey’s most-read writer on several occasions. She has been rated as “the one of the 10 most influential people in social media” on two occasions. She has given the “Freedom Lecture” as a guest of Amnesty International and the Prince Claus Foundation. She has among given speeches at Oxford University, the London School of Economics, Harvard University and the House of Commons in the British Parliament, among many other locations. She recently appeared on BBC’s Hard Talk and Imagining The New Truth series. She divides her time between Istanbul and Zagreb.

About SOAS Kurdish Society

The Kurdish Society at SOAS aims to bridge students with Kurdistan’s culture, language and political discourse. We are keen to promote the academic discipline of Kurdish Studies in organising seminars, conferences, presentations by PhD students, journalists, scholars and politicians of the wider Kurdistan region and the world.

Photo credit: Muhsin Akgun

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The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) and King’s College London Diplomacy Society are pleased to invite you to a public forum with Professor Tahir Abbas on 5th June 2017.

Please see speaker biography below.

The event will take place between 7-9PM on Monday, 5 June 2017 in the Nash Lecture Theatre, King’s College (Strand, London WC2R 2LS).

The closest underground station is Temple (Circle & District Line) and the campus is right next to Somerset House. Further directions to the venue can be found here.

The people of Turkey have voted to usher in a new era of politics in Turkey. A presidential system places Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the helm of the Turkish state with full executive powers. There is a range of political and social challenges that may arise from the change. Moreover, Turkey’s neighbours to the south are struggling with raging internal conflicts, while Turkey’s neighbour to the west, the European Union, is undergoing an existential crisis.

Dr Tahir Abbas, whose new book ‘Contemporary Turkey in Conflict: Ethnicity, Islam and Politics’ was published in December 2016, will analyse the challenges that Turkey faces in this book launch/public forum event.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker Biography

Professor Tahir Abbas FRSA is a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Visiting Senior Fellow at the Department of Government, LSE. Previously, he was a Professor of Sociology at Fatih University in Istanbul, Reader in Sociology at Birmingham University, and Senior Research Officer at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice in London. Before joining RUSI in mid-2016, he lived and worked in Istanbul for six years, during which time he was a visiting scholar at New York University, Leiden University, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, International Islamic University in Islamabad and the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta. Abbas read Economics at Queen Mary University of London. He has a MSocSc in Economic Development and Policy from the University of Birmingham and a PhD in Ethnic Relations from the University of Warwick. He is Associate Editor of the quarterly journal Critical Muslim, published by Hurst and Oxford University Press. Abbas has published 13 books and 65 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and encyclopaedic articles. He is currently working on his next monograph, Beyond Summer Phobia, Radicalisation and the Culture of Violence, published by Hurst in 2018.

About The King’s College London Diplomacy Society

The King’s College London Diplomacy Society is the largest university-level foreign affairs society in London with the main aim of providing ambitious students with the chance to better understand contemporary politics the world over and what it takes to be a successful ambassador, diplomat, and statesperson.

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We are delighted to invite you to a CEFTUS dinner with political scientist Dr Nuray Mert and author and journalist Levent Gultekin on 15 June 2017.

This will be an informal dinner where you will have the opportunity to discuss recent developments in Turkey with Dr Nuray Mert and Levent Gultekin and others interested in Turkey.

Both outspoken thinkers; Dr Nuray Mert currently writes for daily Cumhuriyet and Levent Gultekin writes for Diken.com.tr on political and social developments in Turkey.

The dinner will take place at Troia Restaurant (3F Belvedere Rd, Lambeth, London SE1 7GQ) between 7:00-10pm on Thursday, 15 June 2017. Dinner, including a starter, main course and 1 Bira London/1 glass of wine or a soft drink, will be £35.00 per person.

Places are limited. If you are interested in attending this dinner please email us at info@ceftus.org to book your place.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) in partnership with Poetry Translation Centre (PTC), with support from Arts Council England and the Prince Claus Foundation, is delighted to invite you to a landmark evening of poetry and friendship in Turkish, Kurdish and English. Celebrated Kurdish poet Bejan Matur and Armenian-Turkish poet Karin Karakasli will read their work alongside TS Eliot Prize-winning British poets Jen Hadfield and Sarah Howe, before discussing the delicate art of translation with their bridge translator Canan Marasligil.

This event will take place between 7:00 and 8:15pm on 25 June 2017 at Arcola Theatre. Click below to purchase your tickets.

The event is part of the PTC Summer Tour with four exceptional poets from Turkey and the UK from 21 June to 1 July 2017.

The tour marks the publication of two new Poetry Translation Centre chapbooks: If this is a lament by Bejan Matur (translated by Jen Hadfield and Canan Marasligil), and History-Geography by Karin Karakasli (translated by Sarah Howe and Canan Marasligil).

This event will be in English with poetry readings in Turkish, Kurdish and English.

CEFTUS is proud be the lead partner of this poetry tour. Please see below for other events which will take place from 21 June to 1 July 2017.

21 June: Stratford-upon-Avon Poetry Festival

23 June: the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia

26 June: Free Word Centre (in partnership with English PEN)

27 June: Studio 3 Arts Barking (in partnership with Spoken, Not Stirred)

30 June: Asia House London

1 July: Ledbury Poetry Festival

About The Poetry Translation Centre

The Poetry Translation Centre was founded in 2004 by poet Sarah Maguire to give the best poems from Africa, Asia and Latin America a new life in the English language; to better understand and celebrate the diverse communities who have made their home in the UK; and to enrich the English poetic tradition through translation. Since the founding of the PTC, pairing international poets with UK poets in the spirit of collaboration has been our approach to producing the best translations and unforgettable live events. One of our first projects was the groundbreaking World Poets’ Tour in 2005, an 11-city tour of bilingual readings, featuring poets from Sudan, Afghanistan, Somaliland, Mexico, India and Indonesia alongside acclaimed British poet-translators. The PTC is a charity supported by Arts Council England.

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Roundtable with Pieter Cleppe ‘Referendum Result: Turkey-EU Relations’

Pieter Cleppe is the Head of the Brussels office of Open Europe. He is a frequent contributor to the broadcast and print media across Europe, frequently discussing EU reform, the refugee crisis and the eurocrisis. A trained lawyer, Pieter previously practiced law in Belgium, and has worked as a cabinet advisor and speechwriter to the Belgian State Secretary for Administrative Reform. Pieter also previously worked as an analyst at the Belgium’s Itinera Institute, which he helped to found. He received his legal training at the Catholic University of Leuven, and also studied law and economics at the universities of Hamburg, Bologna and Vienna

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Book Launch with Dr Soner Cagaptay

‘The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey’

The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a launch of Dr Soner Cagaptay’s new book ‘The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey’ on 11 September 2017.

The event will take place between 7-9PM on Monday, 11 September 2017 at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Please see below for room details.

In this book launch, Beyer Family fellow and Director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, Dr Soner Cagaptay will look at President Erdoğan’s roots in Turkish history, what he believes in and how he has cemented his rule, as well as what this means for the world. The discussion will also unpick the ‘threats’ Erdogan has worked to combat – from the liberal Turks to the Gulen movement, from coup plotters to Kurdish nationalists – all of which have culminated in the crisis of modern Turkey.

This event will be kindly chaired by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Global Fellow Dr Latif Tas of SOAS.

The event will take place in Alumni Lecture Theatre (SALT) of Paul Webley Wing (Senate House North Block) at SOAS. Full address is Paul Webley Wing, North Block, Torrington Square, London WC1E 7HX.

Please click below to register. We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker Biography

Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. He has written extensively on U.S.-Turkish relations, Turkish domestic politics, and Turkish nationalism, publishing in scholarly journals and major international print media, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Foreign Affairs, Atlantic, New Republic, and Newsweek Türkiye. He has been a regular columnist for Hürriyet Daily News, Turkey’s oldest and most influential English-language paper, and a contributor to CNN’s Global Public Square blog. He appears regularly on Fox News, CNN, NPR, Voice of America, BBC, and CNN-Turk. A historian by training, Dr Cagaptay wrote his doctoral dissertation at Yale University (2003) on Turkish nationalism. Dr Cagaptay has taught courses at Yale, Princeton University, Georgetown University, and Smith College on the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Eastern Europe. His spring 2003 course on modern Turkish history was the first offered by Yale in three decades. From 2006-2007, he was Ertegun Professor at Princeton University’s Department of Near Eastern Studies.

Dr Cagaptay is the recipient of numerous honors, grants, and chairs, among them the Smith-Richardson, Mellon, Rice, and Leylan fellowships, as well as the Ertegun chair at Princeton. He has also served on contract as chair of the Turkey Advanced Area Studies Program at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. In 2012 he was named an American Turkish Society Young Society Leader.

Photo credit: CEFTUS

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Westminster Debate ‘US-Turkey Relations and the Failed Coup Attempt’

The Centre for Turkey Studies is delighted to invite you to a public forum with former US Ambassador to Turkey James F. Jeffrey.

The event will take place in the House of Commons’ Committee Room 5 on 9th October, from 7pm to 9pm.

Turkey is a key US ally in the Middle East but relations have become increasingly strained between the two nations in recent years, especially since the failed coup attempt of July 2016. Interests have partly diverged due to the Syrian conflict, with the US backing the same Syrian Kurdish forces that Turkey views as an extension of the insurgent Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Over the last year, Turkey has looked to the US to extradite the cleric Fethullah Gulen, who the government blames for the coup attempt, while in recent months there have been hopes for a reset in relations with the US having changed administrations. As an experienced diplomat and expert in the region, James F. Jeffrey will analyse the situation and give his thoughts on the various ongoing issues that form the complex US-Turkey relationship. 

This forum will kindly be hosted by Virendra Sharma MP (Ealing Southall).

Please click below to register. We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker biography

Ambassador James F. Jeffrey retired from the Foreign Service with the rank of Career Ambassador in June 2012. At present he is the Philip Solondz distinguished visiting fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Visiting Instructor at George Washington University, consultant, and member of the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Policy Board.

Ambassador Jeffrey has held a series of senior posts in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Prior to his service as Ambassador in Ankara (2008-2010), and Baghdad (2010-2012), he served as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor in the George W, Bush Administration. Earlier he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the Department of State, where his responsibilities included leading the Iran policy team and coordinating public diplomacy.

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Westminster Debate ‘Turkey’s Foreign Policy in Syria and the Kurdish Issue’

The Centre for Turkey Studies is delighted to invite you to a public forum with the veteran Turkish journalist Cengiz Candar.

The event will take place in Committee Room 9 of the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday 10th October, from 7pm to 9pm.

The Syrian conflict has had a major impact on the relationship between Turkey and its Kurdish population. Northern Syria is now dominated by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which the Turkish government argues is an extension of the insurgent Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). The PKK and the Turkish state have been in conflict for much of the period since 1984. A shaky peace process between the two broke down in 2015 amid escalating violence in Syria. Since then, conflict has returned to Turkey’s South East, with clashes between the state and armed Kurdish groups. As an experienced journalist and eminent writer on the topic, Cengiz Candar will analyse the current situation and address its ramifications for Turkey.

The forum will be hosted by Joan Ryan MP (Enfield North)

Please click below to register. We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker biography

Cengiz Candar studied political science and international relations at Ankara University. He began his career as journalist in 1976 in the Turkish daily newspaper Vatan after living for some years in the Middle East and Europe due to his opposition to the regime in Turkey following the military intervention in 1971. An expert of the Middle East (Lebanon and Palestine) and the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Candar has worked for the Turkish News Agency and newspapers Cumhuriyet, Hürriyet, Referans and Güneş as a war correspondent. More recently, he has written for Radikal and Al Monitor.

Candar served as special adviser to Turkish president Turgut Özal between 1991 and 1993. Between 1997 and 1999, he lectured at Bilgi University in İstanbul. In 1999 and 2000, Candar did research work on Turkey’s role in the 21st century as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace.

Cengiz Candar is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Stockholm University Department of Asian, Middle Eastern, Turkish Studies.

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Transitioning Towards a Presidential System under a State of Emergency

CEFTUS and Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) will hold a joint roundtable with Professor of Law Dr Osman Can, Member of Venice Commission of Council of Europe and former Justice and Development Party (AK Party) MP for Istanbul on 9th October 2017.

After the referendum on the constitutional changes that took place in April 2017, Turkey has officially adopted an executive presidency as a system of governance. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on the same day in November 2019. The elected President will be both head of state and head of government for the first time in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Dr Osman Can will outline the amendments in the Turkish constitution and analyse the legal issues arising under state of emergency rule which has been in place since the July 2016 coup attempt.

Speaker Biography

Professor Dr Osman Can is a lecturer at Marmara University Law School. He is a member of the Venice Commission and an advisory member of the Council of Europe.

Dr Can was appointed to the Constitutional Court as rapporteur-judge in July 2002. In 2006, he became an associate professor by unanimous decision of the Board of Higher Education Jury. His habilitation thesis was entitled “The Democratisation Process and Closing of Political Parties in Turkey”. 

In 2007 he advised to the Constitutional Court that the election of the President of the Republic directly by the people would not violate the constitution. His recommendation was accepted. In 2010, he co-founded Democratic Judiciary, an association calling for the impartiality and plurality of the judiciary. In the same year, the Lawyers Association honoured him as the “Jurist of the Year”. In October 2010 he resigned from the Constitutional Court. After constitutional amendments had been approved by the referendum of 2010, he started the initiative for a new constitution. The Platform for New Constitution arranged countrywide meetings to prepare the framework for the first social contract of the Republic of Turkey. In 2011 he was awarded the “Thinker of the year” by Writers Union of Turkey.

Dr Can served as a member of the Central Decision-Making and Administrative Committee of the AK Party and was elected a Member of Parliament for Istanbul in June 2015. He was a Member of the AK Party’s Constitutional Committee, which led the constitution-making process in Turkey during 2012-2015. In November 2015 he left politics and returned to academia.

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Nominations for the 2017 Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot Community Achievement Awards are set to close on the 18th of September.

If you know a Turk, Kurd or Turkish Cypriot who deserves recognition fill out a nomination form with the name, contact details and reasons why you think your nominee qualifies for an award. To fill out the form, please follow this link.

Winners will be presented with their award in front of an audience of distinguished guests at the Centre for Turkey Studies’ 6th Annual Gala. Last year’s attendees included leader of the Labour Party and Her Majesty’s Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn MP, alongside a range of British and Turkish politicians, foreign dignitaries, business leaders and community figures.

This year’s Gala will take place on the 8th of October 2017 at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel, with a reception starting at 18:00, followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 19:00. To buy ticket to this exclusive event, please follow this link.

CEFTUS is a non-profit organisation. In order to continue our work, we thank you for your kind support through purchasing tickets and ask you to consider choosing a sponsorship package. These include advertising your business at the gala event, speaking at the event as one of our main sponsors, the placement of an advert in our annual magazine which is widely distributed, purchasing a table or tables for you and your guests as well as many other possible options. Please contact us at info@ceftus.org or call us on 02071834272.  We would be happy to discuss the options and tailor a sponsorship package that works best for you.

The categories are as listed below:

Female /Male Role Model
Politics and Education

Law Firm/Lawyers
Community Organisations/Charity
Businessman of the year
Businesswoman of the year
Food and restaurants
Financial Services/Accountancy
Wholesalers/Production/best Employer

Young Entrepreneurs

CEFTUS is dedicated to recognition and celebration of the outstanding work of Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot women, men, companies and organisations in the UK in several fields. Previous winners have been recognised for their exceptional contribution to various business sectors such as financial services, law, wholesale, production, restaurants and hospitality, as well as in other areas such as journalism, education and political activity. For a full list of last year’s winners, please click here.

Previous examples include Cllr Mete Coban who was awarded a Politics and Education Award for his work in youth political engagement bu organising the ‘My Life My Say’ campaign and Dr Tunc Aybak who was recognised for his numerous academic achievements. Cllr Makbule Gunes and Akif Rizgar Wan were awarded with Female and Male Role Model awards respectively.

Gulen Coban of Mez-Opotamia Restaurant was awarded Successful Businesswoman and Tony Manconi, Efe Cakarel and Ali Sancak received awards as Successful Businessmen. Muhammet Cankiran and Sinan Fidanci of Oakfield Solicitors were also awarded in the Law category and Ali Matur of Holland Bazaar, Kemal Gondas of United Paper Products and Deniz Suyur of Esin Cash and Carry won Wholesalers/Production/Best Employer awards. Many other awards were handed out as a part of this celebration.

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The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) would like to invite you to a public forum titled ‘Suicide among Turkish, Kurdish, Cypriot Diasporas in Europe’ with keynote speakers Özlem Eylem of the Centre for Psychiatry Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine; Dr Aradhana Perry of East London NHS Foundation Trust, City & Hackney Directorate Department of Psychology, The Raybould Centre, Homerton Hospital; Dr Esra Caglar, Consultant Psychiatrist; Nursel Tas, Chief Executive Officer of DERMAN; and other experts (TBC).

The event will take place between 7-9PM on Monday, 16 October 2017 at a central London venue. RSVP for location details.

In the UK, systematic data showing suicide rates in Turkish-speaking populations do not exist as this population is usually classified as “white other ethnic background” in national statistics for suicide and for health services-use. In 2009, 11 men of Turkish and Kurdish background committed suicide in London. Following this, several researchers such as Nursel Taş and colleagues from Derman, Ümit Çetin and Özlem Eylem have investigated the reasons leading to suicide attempts in these populations. Up until now, sociological reasons (e.g. feeling alienated to their own community), psychological reasons (e.g. fear of failing responsibilities towards their family and community) as well as cultural reasons (e.g. shame and stigma attached to disclosing suicidal intent) have been identified consistently.

This public forum with experts in the field aims to raise public awareness about suicide as an existing issue in the Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot communities in the UK and Europe. Experts from various disciplines will discuss the preceding psychological and socio-economic reasons behind suicide. Additionally, how these reasons should be addressed in the current health system and the role of e-health in solving the inaccessibility issue will be highlighted.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

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The Centre for Turkey Studies is delighted to invite you to a public forum with Gaye Usluer, member of the Turkish parliament for the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on changes to the education system in Turkey.

The event will take place in House of Commons committee room 11 on 9^th October between 7pm and 9pm. It will be hosted by Faisal Rashid MP; chair TBA.

In recent months, considerable changes have been made to the education system in Turkey. MP Gaye Usluer will join us to discuss these changes and the opposition’s response as well as general recent political developments in the country.

Please click below to register. We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

Speaker biography
Professor Gaye Usluer is an academic who has been member of parliament for Eskisehir with the opposition Republican People’s party since 2015. Having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Hacettepe University, she became a professor in 1998. She is currently the Head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine in Eskisehir Osmangazi University. Usluer was a visiting professor in Oxford John Raddclif Hospital in 1996, a Management Committee Member of the Society for Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialty in 2006 and she is currently an honorary board member at the Eskisehir Medical Association. She serves as a member of the Turkish parliament’s education committee.

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