The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) in partnership with Friends of Turkey Group in the European Parliament is delighted to invite you to a public forum with Dr Sinan Ulgen, Chairman of the Istanbul based think tank, Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels and Mr Geoffrey Van Orden Conservative MEP for the East of England.
This event is kindly hosted and chaired by Catherine West MP for Hornsey & Wood Green and Shadow FCO Minister.
Please see speaker biographies below.
The event will take place between 5.30-7.30PM on Thursday 17th November 2016 in Committee Room 11, House of Commons.
UK’s decision to leave the European Union on 23rd June 2016 has led to a period of political uncertainty. This includes UK’s stance on Turkey’s accession to EU membership and what Brexit may mean for Turkey’s alternatives on this path.
Our speaker will lay out the possible scenarios for the UK’s relationship with the EU, which in turn could set an example for Turkey in the future, in case the full membership card is ruled out or unattainable at some point.
Please click ‘register’ above.
We look forward to welcoming you to this event.
Speaker Biographies
Sinan Ulgen is the chairman of the Istanbul based think tank, Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) and a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels. He graduated in 1987 from the University of Virginia with a double major in computer sciences and economics. He undertook graduate studies at the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium where he received, in 1990, a masters degree in European economic integration. He then joined the Turkish Foreign Service as a career diplomat. In 1992, he was posted to the Turkish Permanent Delegation to the European Union in Brussels where he became part of the team that negotiated the Turkey-EU customs union. Ulgen is the founder and managing partner of Istanbul Economics. The consultancy specialises in market entry strategies for international companies, political and economic risk analysis related to Turkey and regulatory affairs.His research and opinion pieces have been published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for European Policy Studies, Center for European Reform, the Atlantic Council, German Marshall Fund, Brookings and the World Economic Forum as well as newspapers such as Le Figaro, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, European Voice, Project Syndicate and the International New York Times. He is also the co-author of a book on Turkey-EU relations with Kemal Dervis and a frequent commentator on Turkish affairs in the international press. Ulgen served on the academic advisory board member of the NATO Defence College in Rome and was a member of the international policy experts group setup by the NATO Secretary General Rasmussen.
Geoffrey Van Orden has been Conservative MEP for the East of England since 1999. He is the Conservative Defence & Security Spokesman in the European Parliament. He previously had a wide-ranging career as a British Army officer, was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps in 1964 and carried out operational duties in many parts of the world starting in Borneo in 1965. His last appointment was at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, from 1991 to 1994. His specialisation in counter-terrorism, which he continues from a political standpoint, began during his years in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.
While seeking a parliamentary seat, he was a senior official in the European Commission (External Relations) dealing with foreign policy, security and defence issues. This included delivering counter-terrorist assistance to Arafat’s Palestine Authority in 1996 and establishing the Commission as the leading provider of assistance for anti-personnel landmine action, including support for landmine victims.
He is a former Vice Chairman and now member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, and of its Defence & Security sub-committee as well as its Delegations to Turkey and to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He is Chairman of the Delegation for Relations with India.
He is strongly against European political integration and has led opposition to EU defence policy, which he believes detrimental to NATO. He spearheaded the Parliament’s action against the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe and supported the growth of democracy in Myanmar. He was the Parliament’s rapporteur for Bulgaria until its EU accession in 2007. As part of his defence and security brief he also takes a close interest in defence industries and issues of energy security.He was instrumental in the creation of, and now Vice Chairman of, the European Conservatives and Reformists political group, the third largest of 8 groups in the European Parliament with 75 MEPs from 17 nations. He is Founding President of the think-tank, New Direction- The Foundation for European Reform.
Photo credit: http://english.alarabiya.net/