It is no surprise that the anti-government protests that swept Turkey this year have already become a key issue in elections expected next year. What is unexpected is that a muezzin is the focus of the swelling debate.

Fuat Yildirim angered the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan after he allowed protesters to rest in his Istanbul mosque during the demonstrations in June. He was later transferred from the Bezmi Alem Sultan mosque to another mosque, then again to another.

Directors of GPoT Center, Prof. Dr. Mensur Akgün and Dr. Sylvia Tiryaki, together with Dr. Mesut Özcan, Deputy Chairman of the Centre for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, and Doc. Dr. Şaban Kardaş of the TOBB University, were part of the Turkish academic delegation visiting various institutes and governmental bodies in Ottawa and Toronto between October 7-8, 2013.

GPoT Center in cooperation with the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) and the Human Security Collective organized a Seminar of the Civil Society Network for Human Security, entitled “Human Security Perspectives on Developments in the Middle East”.

İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Küresel Siyasal Eğilimler Merkezi (GPoT) ve Munathara İnisiyatifi tarafından ortaklaşa düzenlenen, "Yabancı Müdahale Suriye için Geriye Kalan Tek Seçenek mi?" konulu canlı tartışmada Suriyeliler Suriye’yi tartıştı. Yabancı askeri müdahaleyi savunanlar ile buna karşı çıkan Suriyeliler’i tartışmasında ilginç yaklaşımlar dikkat çekti.

GPoT Center hosted a two-day debate and dialogue training followed by an exclusive live debate on foreign military intervention in Syria from the 16th to the 18th of September 2013.