GPoT Center hosted a nine-person delegation from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on April 5th, 2011 at Istanbul Kültür University.
Drs. Mensur Akgün and Sylvia Tiryaki, along with GPoT staff members, briefed the delegation on the Center's activities and Turkish politics and foreign policy during a private lunch and discussion. Members of the delegation presented Drs. Tiryaki and Akgün with coffee table books on the city of Chicago and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
The Director of GPoT Center, Dr. Akgün, spoke at the Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington as one of the panelists on March 24th, 2011.
The joint event of CAP and Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) served for presentation and discussion of "The Perspectives of Turkey in the Middle East", a new study by the TESEV Institute on perceptions of Turkey by its Middle East neighbors on democracy, Iran, and Turkey’s role and influence in the region. Implications of the findings for US-Turkey relations were discussed, too.
Dr. Mensur Akgün participated in the second yearly meeting of the Middle East and North Africa Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (MENAPPAC) in Beirut between the 18th and 19th of March, 2011.
A group of high school students from Denmark, together with their professor Mr. Erik Boel from the Landsformand for Europabevægelsen and his colleague, visited GPoT Center on March 16th, 2011.
GPoT Center staff, Nigar Hacızade, Lenka Peťková, and Meltem Abalı, made brief presentations on Turkey's foreign policy, Middle East, the Cyprus question, EU-Turkey relations, and Iran's nuclear program. The Danish students enjoyed the opportunity to discuss topics of their interest with students of Istanbul Kültür University and GPoT Center's intern, Emre Unal.
Nigar Hacızade, one of the Project Officers of GPoT Center, attended the two-week International Leadership Academy on Conflict Prevention and Management, organized by the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung in Gummersbach, Germany between February 27th and March 11th.
The course covered trends and causes of international conflicts, methods of conflict management as well as its practice. A policy brief on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict informed by the subject material of the seminar will be published online in March.
Director of GPoT Center, Dr. Mensur Akgün, together with other international academicians, government officials, and representatives from the private sector participated in a two-day conference entitled "China - Middle East Political and Energy Relations" in Singapore from March 10th to the 11th, 2011.
Graduate students pursuing a degree in comparative law and international politics from Clermont-Ferrand in France visited GPoT Center on March 8, 2011.
The group came to Turkey for a one week long study trip. GPoT Center staff, Susae Elanchenny, Narod Maraşlıyan and Lenka Peťková gave them lectures on the Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, Turkey-Armenia relations and Cyprus issue in the light of Turkey's accession process to the EU. The presentations were followed by a fruitful session of questions and answers.
The World Handicapped Foundation (Turkey) with the support from the Istanbul Kültür University, Bahçeşehir University and Yeni Yüzyıl University as well as a number of Turkish NGOs will organize a World Handicapped Symposium.
The Director of GPoT Center Dr. Mensur Akgün participated in a three day Wilton Park conference entitled "Global conflict-future trends and challenges: towards 2030".
During her visit in the United States, the Deputy Director of GPoT Center, Dr. Sylvia Tiryaki, met with the Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute (ASI), Mr. David Ives.
ASI is a non-profit organization based at the Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and focuses on humanitarian and peace efforts, motivating young people to serve the community and the environment as a way of life. For more information about the Institute, visit the following website: www.quinnipiac.edu/x153.xml.