Prof. Dr. Bülent ARAS, Chairman

Bülent Aras received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Bogazici University in 1994, and his Ph.D. in International Relations from the same institution in 1999. He was a visiting scholar at Indiana University’s Center for Eurasian Studies in 1998, Oxford University’s St. Anthony’s College in 2003 and a research scholar at the Paris-based European Union Institute of Security Studies in the summer of 2004. He became a full professor in 2006 at Işık University. He was Senior Visiting Professor of Turkish Studies at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford in 2010. He taught at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of Istanbul Technical University before he was appointed as the chairman of the Foreign Ministry’s Strategic Research Center (SAM). He has been at this post since November 2010. He is also academic advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He has had 13 books published abroad and at home. His articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers and have been translated into several languages. Prof. Bülent Aras has been focusing on Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Politics, and Central Asia, and as an expert in these fields he has done consulting work for numerous organizations. Prof. Aras’ writings include Palestinian- Israeli Peace Process and Turkey (Novascience, 1998), New Geopolitics of Eurasia and Turkey's Position (Frankcass, 2002), Turkey and the Greater Middle East (TASAM, 2004) and, as co-editor, Oil and Geopolitics in the Caspian Sea Region (Praeger, 1999), and September 11 and World Politics (FUP: 2004). His articles have appeared in Middle East Policy, Journal of Third World Studies, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Third World Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, International Journal, Futures, Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans, Mediterranean Quarterly, Nationalism and Ethnic Policy and Central Asia/Caucasus. His articles have been translated into Persian, Russian and Arabic. He wrote a weekly column on foreign policy at Sabah daily in 2009 and 2010. He is editor-in-chief of Perceptions and founding editor of Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations. He serves on the editorial boards of Turkish Studies, Journal of Balkans and Near Eastern Studies, Insight Turkey, Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, and Central Asia/Caucasus, International Law and Politics, Orta Asya ve Kafkasya Araştırmaları, Ortadoğu Etüdleri, Stratejik Öngörü.

Prof. Aras organized a series of conferences on several issues relating to Turkish foreign policy, security in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and became a member of several congressional scientific committees. He contributed to the establishment of the Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM) and the Center for Turkish-Asian Strategic Studies (TASAM). He is a member of the international Board of Directors of the International Centre for Black Sea Studies. He provided consultancy for organizations such as Oxford Analytica, Microsoft, and Human Rights Watch.

Dr. Mesut ÖZCAN, Deputy Chairman

Mesut Özcan received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University in 2000 and his M.A. in 2002 from the same institution. He defended his dissertation at the Boğaziçi University Atatürk Institute in 2007. He studied at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University on the Jean Monnet Master Scholarship in 2005-2006.

He worked as a research assistant at Beykent University between 2000-2005. Özcan was a visiting scholar at Kuwait University’s Department of Political Science in 2009. He worked at Istanbul Ticaret University’s Department of International Relations as an Assistant Professor between 2007 and 2011. Dr. Özcan joined SAM of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as deputy director in September 2011.

He has written three books: Sorunlu Miras Irak (Istanbul: Küre, 2003), Harmonizing Foreign Policy: Turkey, the EU and the Middle East (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), and Medeniyetler ve Dünya Düzen(ler)i, Mesut Özcan ve Muzaffer Şenel (ed), (Istanbul: Klasik, 2010). He has published articles and book chapters on Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Politics and Iraq. He serves on the editorial boards of Insight Turkey, Divan and Perceptions.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selçuk ÇOLAKOĞLU, Advisor

Dr. Colakoglu received his B.A. from the Department of International Relations at Ankara University in 1995, obtained his M.A. from the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara in 1997, and completed his Ph.D. in the Department of International Relations at Ankara University in 2003. His dissertation was about the Northeast Asian security system. Recently, he worked as a visiting professor at the Department of Turkish Studies of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) in 1999 and 2000 in Seoul, South Korea. While currently working as an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Adnan Menderes University (ADU) in Nazilli, Turkey, he is also an advisor for the Center for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.

Dr. Colakoglu is a member of the Turkish Association of International Relations and an assistant editor of the Turkish Journal of International Relations. He is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Central Asian & Caucasian Studies, the Ankara Review of European Studies, and Perceptions. His research interests include political and security issues in international relations, particularly in East Asia and Central Eurasia, and Turkish Foreign Policy. He also contributed to the studies on the Asia-Pacific region of the International Strategic Research Organization (USAK).

He has published two books and thirty articles and book chapters. His books are: Northeast Asia in International Relations (in Turkish, Ankara: USAK Press, 2009); Korean Society, Culture, Politics (in Turkish, Ankara: Orion Press, 2008). His published articles have been on international security, European and Asian politics and Turkish Foreign Policy, and he has published in journals including: Asian Communication Research, China Media Research, Studia Europaea, Studia Regionalia, Journal of Central Asian & Caucasian Studies, the Turkish Yearbook of Asia-Pacific Studies, and the Ankara Review of European Studies.

Sevgi AKARÇEŞME, Advisor

Sevgi Akarçeşme received her B.A. in Political Science and Public Administration from Bilkent University in 2001 with a full scholarship. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Istanbul Bilgi University and another M.A. in Political Science from Temple University, where she attended the PhD program and worked as a teaching assistant. Following her graduate studies in Philadelphia, she joined the Turkey Project at CSIS in Washington D.C., one of the leading think-tanks in the country.

Upon returning to Turkey, she worked at the Office of the President from 2008 till the end of 2010, where she gained invaluable government experience. Currently, she has been working as an advisor at SAM.

Sevgi Akarçeşme’s Master’s thesis was published as a book in 2010 entitled Military or Civilian Supremacy in Turkey? The New Framework of Civil-Military Relations in the Post- Feb 28 Era. In addition to articles she co-authored with Prof. Bülent Aras, she has published articles and commentaries in Insight Turkey and Today’s Zaman in English.

Onur DEMİRBAŞ, Third Secretary

A career diplomat joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 2010. He received his B.A. from the Department of Economics of the Middle East Technical University. He served as an expert in the Economic Modelling Department of the State Planning Organization in 2009. He also worked as Third Secretary in the Department of Environment in 2010 and joined the Center for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2011.

Ercan SARIBAŞAK, Third Secretary

A career diplomat joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 2010 and he began to work for the Center for Strategic Research in February 2011. He received his BA in Political Sciences and International Relations from Yeditepe University in 2005 with full scholarship and his master’s degree in European Union from the Institute of Political Studies of Grenoble in France with French Government Scholarship. He is currently PhD student at the same institute. He visited Columbia University for 6 months in 2009 as part of his PhD program.

M. Enes ESEN, Third Secretary

He graduated from Galatasaray High School in 2005 and received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Boğazici University in 2010.   He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010 as a career diplomat. He was appointed to the NATO Department in 2011 and then to SAM in the same year.

Ceyhun TARIM, Third Secretary

Ceyhun Tarım received his B.A. in Management from Boğaziçi University in 2007. He worked as a Company Manager between 2007 and 2010. In 2010, he served as an Assistant Bank Examiner at Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 2011 as a career diplomat.  Since July 2011, he has been serving as a Third Secretary at SAM.

Engin KARACA, Expert

Engin Karaca received his B.A. in International Relations from Bilkent University in 2006. He works as an expert at SAM since 2009. Besides his contributions to the daily work of the Center, Engin Karaca is the Managing Editor of Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs and the responsible officer for the publications of SAM.

Engin Karaca is fluent in English and German.