20 Years On: Turkish-American Relations under the AK Party

20 Years On: Turkish-American Relations under the AK Party

August 16^th, 2021

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

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Since the foundation of the AK Party on August 14, 2001, Turkish-American relations have gone through major regional and global challenges. The relationship has ebbed and flowed over the past two decades of AK Party governments under the leadership of President Erdoğan and different administrations in Washington. The Middle East has undergone major geopolitical transformations that the US and Turkey have sought to manage in the last twenty years in addition to numerous bilateral issues. The US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Iran nuclear issue, ongoing Syrian civil war are just a few of the regional challenges that both strained the relationship and created opportunities for cooperation. In what ways has the AK Party put its stamp on Turkish foreign policy in general and the US-Turkey relationship in particular? What are the current challenges and opportunities before a more robust partnership can contribute to peace and stability in the region? How can the US and Turkey overcome their bilateral difficulties and work together as NATO allies to tackle regional and global challenges?

The SETA Foundation at Washington DC is pleased to host a distinguished panel of experts to discuss Turkish-American relations under the tenure of the AK Party.

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Speakers

Çağrı Erhan, Professor of International Relations Altınbaş Üniversitesi, Member of Security and Foreign Policies Council of Turkish Presidency

Akif Kireçci, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara Social Sciences University, Member of Security and Foreign Policies Council of Turkish Presidency

Moderator

Kadir Ustun, Executive Director at The SETA Foundation at Washington DC

Bios

Çağrı Erhan served as a full professor in the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University, from December 2008 until May 2015. He was also the Director of the European Research Centre between 2000 and 2015. In June of 2015, Çağrı Erhan was appointed as the President of Istanbul Kemerburgaz University, which underwent a change of name to Altınbaş University in July 2017. Çağrı Erhan is the author of ‘Turkish American Relations: Past, Present and Future’; ‘Turkish Israeli Relations in Historical Perspective’; ‘Turk-Amerikan İlişkilerinin Tarihsel Kökenleri (Historical Roots of Turkish- American Relations)’; and ‘Avrupa Birliği Politikaları (European Union Policies)’. He writes a weekly political column for the Turkiye newspaper and he is a commentator for the Turkish TRT Haber television programme. He is also a Member of the Security and Foreign Policies Council of Turkish Presidency

Akif Kireçci is the Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara Social Sciences University, a board member of The Turkish Fulbright Commission, and a member of Turkey’s Presidential Committee on Security and Foreign Policy. His areas of expertise cover international relations, geopolitics, modernization and cultural transformations in the Middle East and Turkish foreign policy. He is also a Member of the Security and Foreign Policies Council of Turkish Presidency

Kadir Ustun is Executive Director at the SETA Foundation at Washington, D.C. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies from Columbia University and a master’s degree in History from Bilkent University. Dr. Ustun taught courses on history, politics, culture, and art in the Islamic World as well as Western political thought at Columbia University and George Mason University. His research interests include civil-military relations, social and military modernization in the Middle East, US-Turkey relations, and Turkish foreign policy. His writings have appeared in Insight Turkey, Al Jazeera English, Sabah Daily, Hurriyet Daily News, Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Al-Monitor, Politico, Daily Sabah, Mediterranean Quarterly, and Middle East Policy. He is co-editor of edited volumes History, Politics and Foreign Policy in Turkey (2011), Change and Adaptation in Turkish Foreign Policy (2014), and Trump’s Jerusalem Move: Making Sense of US Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2020).