The Middle East Institute’s Turkey Program is proud to present an event to discuss the complex post-election dynamics currently roiling Turkey. As President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposes drafting a new constitution, his opponents fear he will take the country in an even more conservative and authoritarian direction. What is Erdoğan’s conception for the country and how do his latest policy steps fit into that vision? What does the Turkish opposition’s disarray mean for Erdoğan’s efforts to consolidate his autocracy? Can Turkey’s new economy team deliver on its promise of solving the country’s economic problems? To discuss these questions and more, please join us for a virtual panel featuring Turkish scholars Soli Ozel, Selva Demiralp and Seda Demiralp.
Speakers
Seda Demiralp
Associate Professor & Chair, Department of International Relations, Işık University
Selva Demiralp
Professor, Economics, Koç University
Soli Özel
International Relations Lecturer, Kadir Has University
Gönül Tol, moderator
Senior Fellow & Founding Director Turkish Studies Program, Middle East Institute
Detailed Speaker Biographies
Seda Demiralp
Seda Demiralp is an associate professor of political science and chair of the Department of International Relations at Işık University. Demiralp focuses on Middle East politics, primarily specializing in Islamic finance, state-business relations, political economy, and political moderation. Her work has appeared in Turkish Studies, South European Society and Politics, Turkish Policy Quarterly, and Middle East Journal.
Selva Demiralp
Selva Demiralp is an economist, academic, and consultant. Demiralp served at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors between 2000 and 2005, before joining Koç University as a professor of economics. Demiralp is the director of Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum. Demiralp has worked with the Federal Reserve, Central Bank of Turkey, and the European Central Bank. She regularly contributes to various Turkish media channels, and her views on Turkish economics appear in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Reuters, and The Associated Press.
Soli Özel
Soli Özel is an international relations lecturer at Kadir Has University. Özel specializes in Middle East politics, American and Turkish foreign policies, and world politics. Özel has held various fellowships, including EU Institute of Strategic Studies and Fisher Family Fellow at the Belfer Center of Harvard Kennedy School. Özel has guest lectured at several American institutions, including Harvard University, John Hopkins University, and Northwestern University.
Gönül Tol, moderator
Gönül Tol is the founding director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkish Studies Program and a senior fellow with the Black Sea Program. She is the author of Erdogan's War: A Strongman's Struggle at Home and in Syria. She has taught courses at George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies and at the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University on Turkey, Islamist movements in Western Europe, world politics, and the Middle East. She has written extensively on Turkey-U.S. relations, Turkish domestic politics, and foreign policy and the Kurdish issue. She is a frequent media commentator.
Photo by Yavuz Ozden / dia Images via Getty Images