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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