About the Event

This conversation with Behlul Özkan (Marmara University)and Mehmet Ali Tuğtan(Bilgi University) will examine the adverse and long-lasting impact of the US-led anti-communism on Turkish democracy. We will trace the roots of current authoritarianism in the top-down Islamization of society and institutions since the 1950s, paying special attention to the role of the military- an institution often regarded as the protector of secularism.

This event is a part of the Program on Turkey. It is co-organized by the Ottoman Turkish Studies Association and supported by OTES@Stanford.

About the Speakers

Behlül Özkan received his PhD from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in 2009. He is currently Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Marmara University, Istanbul. Özkan is the author of From the Abode of Islam to the Turkish Vatan: Making of a National Homeland in Turkey (Yale University Press, 2012). He also contributed op-eds to New York Times, Huffington Post, Open Democracy. Özkan is also a board member of European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). In recent years his academic studies has been focused on Political Islam in Turkey and Europe.

Mehmet Ali Tuğtan is assistant professor in International Relations at Istanbul Bilgi University. He has a PhDin Political Science from Boğaziçi University. His research focuses on Turkish-American Relations, Contemporary World Politics and Security Studies. Dr. Tugtan has edited a book on the Turkish involvement in the Korean War (Kore Savaşı: Uzak Savaşın Askerleri) published in 2013.