Welcome! 

I work as Professor of International Relations at Joint War Institute, Turkish National Defence University in Istanbul and Executive Board Member at Turkish Maarif Foundation. Previously I have taught at universities in Colombia, Turkey, Bosnia & Herzegovina in Turkish, English and Spanish. Along with the participation in many international conferences as speaker, discussant and participant; I have traveled, lived and experienced socio-political and intellectual life extensively in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and North/South America.

I have extensive experience in academia, think-tanks and government where I worked as Executive Director of Maarif Foundation USA in New York (2018-2021) and founding Regional Director for Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Colombia (2015-2018) and Director of International Center for Terrorism and Transnational Crime (UTSAM) in Turkey (2014-2015). I held fellowships positions at SETA Foundation in Ankara; Institute for Defense and Security Analysis (IDSA), New Delhi, India; Center for Global Policy in Washington DC, USA and Cairo University in Egypt.  After studying in Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, India and Egypt, I completed my PhD at Sevilla University, Spain and my academic interest focuses on politics of Global South, religion and politics, Middle East, Horn of Africa, Latin American politics, radicalization, civil-military relations, foreign policy of emerging powers, development, and more specifically Turkish foreign and domestic policy.

I occasionally analyze breaking developments in world politics for popular outlets like Foreign Policy, Middle East Eye, Star-Açık Görüş, AA Analiz, Kriter as well as contribute with commentaries to, among many others, CNN en Español, NTN24, TRT World, Russia Today, TRT Haber, HaberTürk, France24, CNN Turk, NTV, and Al-Jazeera Arabic.

Enjoy reading and welcome again.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet ÖZKAN