CEFTUS Westminster Debate ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’
The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a Westminster Debate on ‘Ergenekon and the Other Side of the Story’ featuring Prof Dr Mehmet Altan of Istanbul University.
Prof Dr Altan is an academic, economist, journalist, and author of over 25 books. Please find his short biography below.
The Ergenokon trials which took nearly five years ended with landmark verdicts in August 2013. The extensive Ergenekon operation took off with the discovery of a stash of hand grenades in a house in Istanbul. The operation revealed an attempt of military coup against the government. The case was linked with the alleged ‘deep state’ and many unsolved murders in Turkey such as the assassination of Turkish-Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink. The Ergenekon operation continued with mass arrests of high-rank military officials, ultra-nationalists, academics, business people and journalists, which led to claims that the incumbent government utilised the operation against the AK Party opponents. Despite acquittal of some, many of the high profile defendants, who were charged with forming a clandestine terrorist organisation, received lengthy sentences including life sentences. How much of the revelations of the Ergenekon trials shed a light over the alleged ‘deep state’ and its crimes? What are the impacts of Ergenekon and what is the other side of the story? Prof Dr Mehmet Altan will address these questions during the debate.
Jonathan Friedman will kindly chair this debate. Mr Friedman is the chief Turkey analyst at Control Risks, a leading global political and security risk consultancy. His recent article on US-Turkey relations can be found here.
This CEFTUS Westminster Debate is kindly hosted by Alison Seabeck Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View.
The event will take place on Monday 16th of December, between 7PM and 8.30PM in the Boothroyd Room in Portcullis House. Security checks are required to enter Portcullis House, so we kindly ask you to arrive at 6.30PM, allowing the event to start and end promptly on time.
Portcullis House is opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and above Westminster tube station.
We look forward to welcoming you at this CEFTUS Westminster Debate. Please note that the speaker will speak in Turkish. However, translation will be delivered during the speech and Q&A.
Booking is required for this event to ensure adequate seating availability.
Please register on here
or RSVP to [email protected]
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Ibrahim Dogus
Director
Speaker Biography
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altan is an academic, economist, journalist, and author of over 25 books. Altan holds a BA in economics from Istanbul University (1979) and MA and Ph.D. from Sorbonne University (1979-1984). He studied the relations between Turkey and IMF and Turkey’s relations with the USA and the Soviet Union. He worked at a private firm and ‘Turk Haberler Ajansi’ and he was the daily Cumhuriyet’s Paris correspondent during his studies. A collection of essays that he wrote in Paris was published in a book called ‘Kanatli Karinca’ in 1985. Following the success of this book which received an award from Akademi Kitabevi, Altan wrote his academic work ‘Superler ve Turkiye’ in 1986. Mehmet Altan has worked at the Faculty of Economics, Istanbul University since 1986, first as assistant professor, then associate professor (1987) and full professor (1993). He wrote in the daily Sabah (1987-2006) and worked as an editor-in-chief in the daily Star until 2012.