The fact that all Turkey’s political parties have criticized the military coup in Egypt is a strong indicator of the country’s democratic maturity, according to an academic expert. ‘This tells us that if something similar happened here, it wouldn’t be tolerated,’ says Professor Mensur Akgün of Istanbul’s Kültür University

İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Küresel Siyasal Eğilimler Merkezi (GPoT) tarafından Ermenistan - Türkiye ilişkilerinin geliştirilmesine katkıda bulunan gazetecilere verilen onur ödülüne bu yıl Markar Esayan layık görüldü.

Geçen yıllarda aynı ödülü alan gazeteciler Kadri Gürsel ve Hilal Kaplan ile GPoT yöneticilerinden Sylvia Tiryaki’den oluşan juri bu yılki ödülü Today’s Zaman gazetesinde çıkan bir yazısı nedeniyle Esayan’a verdi.

İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Küresel Siyasal Eğilimler Merkezi (GPoT Center) bu yıl üçüncü kez Türkiye-Ermenistan Gazetecilik Ödül Töreni’ni gerçekleştirdi.

Ödül Taraf gazetesi eski yazarı Markar Esayan’a verildi. Esayan, Today’s Zaman’da 24 Nisan’da çıkan ‘Exit from a well 1915 meters deep’ başlıklı yazısından dolayı ödüle layık görüldü.

Auch am Samstag gab es auf dem Istanbuler Taksim-Platz wieder Polizeigewalt. Bisher zeigt Ministerpräsident Erdogan kein Interesse an der Aufarbeitung der Vorfälle. Das könnte sich aber demnächst ändern.

On 11 June, 2013 GPoT Center's Director Mensur Akgün and Deputy Director Sylvia Tiryaki participated as panelists at the Brookings Institute's roundtable discussion, entitled "Exploring New Opportunities for Reconciliation in Cyprus", in Washington, D.C.

Present at the meeting were representatives from the US Department of State, the media, academic institutions, civil society organizations, and inter-governmental as well as non-governmental institutions.

On 7 June 2013 Sylvia Tiryaki attended the Turkish-Slovak Business Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. Before the forum she participated in a private meeting session with the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico.

The forum is part of a series of initiatives that aim to further strengthen Turkish and Slovakian political and economic ties.

On 23 and 24 May 2013 directors of GPoT Center, Mensur Akgün and Sylvia Tiryaki, participated in sessions at a Norwegian Institute of International Affairs’ (NUPI) conference entitled “Turkish and Norwegian Scholars on the Arab Spring”.

Sophia Hutnik from GPoT Center attended a conference hosted by the Istanbul Policy Center entitled the “IPC Observatory: The Future of the Liberal Order” on 23 May 2013.

The first panel of the Conference featured a presentation on a recent Transatlantic Academy Report, “The Democratic Disconnect: Citizenship and Accountability in the Transatlantic Community” given by Richard Youngs and Prof Seyla Benhabib. The second panel was composed of four experts from the region that proceeded to delve into a debate regarding the future of democracy and the liberal order.

On 13 May 2013 Sylvia Tiryaki moderated a panel entitled “Energy and Improvements in Turkey-Israel Relations” which was part of the larger conference "Energy in the Eastern Mediterranean: Can it Facilitate Dispute Resolution?".

The conference, organized by the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), covered topics such as energy, Turkish-Israeli relations, the Cyprus problem, and the way forward for the region.

GPoT Center's project officer Sofia Hafdell participated in the Citizens for Dialogue Convention organized by the Anna Lindh Foundation and the Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan Networks between the 24th and the 28th of March, 2013 in Tunisia.