Kadir Ustun

Executive Director

Kadir Ustun is the Executive Director at the SETA Foundation at Washington, D.C. He also served as an Assistant Editor of Insight Turkey, an academic journal published by the SETA Foundation. Dr. Ustun holds a PhD in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies from Columbia University and a Master’s degree in History from Bilkent University. He has contributed to various SETA reports and his writings have appeared in various publications such as Insight Turkey, Al Jazeera English, Daily Sabah, Hurriyet Daily News, Mediterranean Quarterly, and Cairo Review of Global Affairs among others. He is also co-editor of edited volumes History, Politics and Foreign Policy in Turkey, Change and Adaptation in Turkish Foreign Policy, and Politics and Foreign Policy in Turkey: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.

You can reach Kadir by email at kadirustun [at] setadc [dot] org.

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• The Road Ahead After the June 24 Elections

  Sunday’s elections in Turkey have finalized the transition to the presidential system with the victory of President Erdogan and his party. Erdogan has advocated and campaigned for this system change..Read more

• Turkey’s June 24 elections are about stability

  Turkey will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 in an historic vote that will transform the country's political system from a parliamentary to a presidential one.<..Read more

• The June 24 Elections: Turkey’s Search for Stability

  Turkey is going to the polls this weekend to decide the presidential and parliamentary elections on the same day – a first in the country’s history. The election..Read more

• Can the Manbij Roadmap Rebuild Mutual Trust Between the U.S. and Turkey?

  The Syrian Civil War and its consequences have posed the most difficult strategic challenges to the U.S.-Turkey relationship in recent years. Issues such as the stat..Read more

• The New Iran Strategy: Bringing the Regime to its Knees through Sanctions and Isolation

  President Trump delivered a major campaign promise by pulling out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and left everyone wondering what the new Iran pol..Read more

• The US Pretends No More in Giving Israel What it Wants

  There were two images broadcast to the world last week that illustrated the end of the U.S. role in the Middle East peace process as we know it. The contrast between celebratory images of the opening ..Read more

• Pulling Out of the Nuclear Deal: Towards a New Status Quo with Iran?

  President Trump is widely expected to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal by refusing to issue a sanctions waiver this week. One of Trump’s central attacks on the Obama administration has been the ..Read more

• Macron Tries to Nudge Trump on Syria Policy

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• US Strikes do not Deliver a Syria Policy

  The U.S. strikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities have delivered the Assad regime a strong message but a very narrow one. Assad can continue to attack the Syrian people with conventional weapons ..Read more

• Assad Knows Chemical Attacks Will Not End His Regime

  Assad is at it again. His regime used chemical weapons against civilians in ..Read more

• What “America First” May Mean for the Middle East

  It was only in January when former Secretary of State Tillerson announced a Syr..Read more

• Can Manbij serve as a Model for US-Turkey Cooperation in Syria?

  The U.S. and Turkey have been pursuing conflicting strategies in northern Syria for a while now. Turkey adamantly pursued to end the U.S. support for the YPG while the Trump administration has seen th..Read more

• Is Pompeo the Right Man for a Trumpian Foreign Policy?

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• Some Myths about the YPG

  Ever since Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch in northwestern Syria, its goals have been mischaracterized and quite a few myths continue to thrive. One of these is that Turkey is conducting the op..Read more

• The US must end Support to the YPG to repair Ties with Turkey

  The U.S. must end its military and political support to the YPG not only to repair ties with Turkey but also to bring long lasting stability to Syria. If the U.S. is interested in a semblance of stabi..Read more