Choices and Challenges for Turkey as a Regional Power Discussed

Recent developments about foreign policy were discussed during the panel meeting presented by Tufts University and TEPAV.

ANKARA – TEPAV and Tufts University organized a panel meeting titled “The Emergence of Turkey as a Regional Power: Choices and Challenges” on Wednesday, 30 May 2012. During the panel, top items of the diplomatic agenda including the recent developments in the Middle East and the Arab Spring were discussed.

The panel held at TEPAV under the Chatham House Rules started with welcome remarks by Nilgün Arısan Eralp, TEPAV European Union Institute Director, and Stephen Bosworth, Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. The panel session was moderated by Uğur Ziyal, Former Turkish Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Advisor to the President of TOBB . Speakers of the session were Leila Fawaz, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Director of the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Vali Nasr, Professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Esat Şafak Göktürk, Ambassador and Director of Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and Özlem Tür, Associate Professor of International Relations at Middle East Technical University.

Main issues discussed during the panel session were the recent changes in Turkey’s foreign policy, regional cooperation, the changes brought to the region by the Arab Spring and the “regional power-global power” nexus.

After the panel session, Uğur Ziyal and Anthony Monaco, President of Tufts University delivered remarks. The meeting that ended with the contributions and questions from the audience was followed by a reception.