The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a public forum with Dr Sinan Ciddi, Executive Director of Institute of Turkish Studies and Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University.
This event will be kindly chaired by Bill Park, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Defence Studies, King’s College.
Please see speaker biography below.
The event will take place between 7-9pm on 31 August 2016 in Room G3 of School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
Since the failed coup attempt of 15 th July in Turkey, many accepted norms about Turkey’s pro-western credentials have begun to be questioned by policy makers in Washington and now in Europe. As the fallout from the coup progresses, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Erdogan regime is interested in exacting maximum benefit out of the incident to solidify and augment his presidential power base. On the one hand, we have witnessed a widespread purge of the country’s military and bureaucratic cadres, and on the other, a reinvigorated attempt to dismember and hold accountable the Gulen movement as the primary party responsible for instigating the coup. Both approaches are likely to significantly strain Turkey’s relationship with NATO and the European Union: in imposing a “State of Emergency” rule, the Erdogan regime appears to be inciting public fervor to bring back the death penalty specifically for the coup plotters and Fetullah Gulen.
Dr Ciddi will analyse the impact of the coup attempt and Erdogan and the Turkish government’s anti-American/NATO and anti-EU sentiments in their public speeches.
We look forward to welcoming you to this event.
Speaker Biography
Sinan Ciddi is an expert on Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy. He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2007 in the field of Political Science. Ciddi continues to author scholarly articles, opinion pieces and book chapters on contemporary Turkish politics and foreign policy, as well as participate in media appearances. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities at Georgetown, Ciddi also serves as the Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies. Ciddi was born in Turkey and educated in the United Kingdom. He was previously an instructor at Sabanci University between 2004-2008 and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the same institution between 2007-2008. Distinct from his articles and opinion editorials, Ciddi’s book titled Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, January 2009) focuses on the electoral weakness of the Republican People’s Party. Between 2008-2011, he established the Turkish Studies program at the University of Florida’s Center for European Studies.