CEFTUS Debate ‘New Turkey: Democratisation Process and Challenges’ with Prof Dr Yasin Aktay
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The Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS) is delighted to invite you to a public forum titled ‘New Turkey: Democratisation Process and Challenges’. Our keynote speaker is Prof. Dr. Yasin Aktay is AK Party Vice Chairman in charge of Foreign Affairs.
Please find speaker’s biography below.
The event is part of the new CEFTUS debate series titled ‘New Turkey’. Successive AK Party governments have promoted the idea that they are building a ‘New Turkey,’ which they assert will be more democratic and pluralistic than the Turkey of previous generations. Opposition groups also use the ‘New Turkey’ phrase, but mostly to criticise the government’s plans to change the constitution, encourage conservative social mores and other policies. ‘New Turkey’ is in inverted commas to acknowledge critics who claim that Turkey has not fundamentally changed. In this view, the ‘old’ Turkey remains, it has only changed hands.
This new CEFTUS debate series will invite speakers from all perspectives to explore the meaning of the ‘New Turkey’ concept and its relationship to developments in Turkey. CEFTUS is a non-partisan and independent organisation aims to create a platform for opinions of all political ideas for an objective understanding of Turkey’s political, social and economic dynamics.
The ‘New Turkey’ series will invite keynote speakers of experts, academics, journalists, politicians and business people from Turkey, Britain and beyond. Debate topics will be a selection of diverse and timely subjects that lie at the heart of Turkey’s internal debates.
In this ‘New Turkey: Democratisation Process and Challenges’ debate, Prof Dr Yasin Aktay will analyse Turkey’s transformation over the last decade in its endeavours to further democratise the country and challenges that it has encountered on the way.
The event will take place on Thursday 6th November, between 7.00PM and 9.00PM. It will be held in Central London. Venue for this event is to be confirmed.
RSVP to [email protected]
Looking forward to welcoming you at this event.
Speaker biography
Prof. Dr. Yasin Aktay is AK Party Vice Chairman in charge of Foreign Affairs. He studied sociology in Middle East Technical University (METU) (1990). He finished his Master’s Degre and Ph.D at METU in 1997. He became an Associate Professor in 1999 and Professor in 2005. He worked at Selcuk University (Konya) as an Assistant Researcher in Department of Sociology, from 1992 to 2012. Between 2001 and 2004, he delivered lectures and researched at several universities in USA. He was editors of journals Tezkire and Sivil Toplum. Between February 2008 and February 2001, he was the host of Mehtap TV’s “Tersi ve Yüzü” with Ferhat Kentel. His articles were published in many national and international magazines and he contributed many academic projects. He currently works at University of Yıldırım Beyazit in Ankara, he is a columnist for Yeni Şafak daily and he is Honorary Chairman of Institute of Strategic Thinking (SDE).