Title: Turkey & the
Caucasus after Georgia
Date(s): 10/29/2008 - 10/29/2008
Location: Washington, DC
Description Presents:
Turkey & the Caucasus after Georgia
Featuring Keynote Speaker Graham Fuller
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Introduction:
Glen E. Howard
President
The Jamestown Foundation
Panel One:
9:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Mitat Celikpala
“Turkey's Reaction to the War in the
Caucasus"
Associate Professor, Department of International Relations
TOBB
University, Ankara
Saban Kardas
"Turkey and the Caucasus Stability Pact"
Department of
International Relations, Sakarya University, Turkey
Coffee Break
10:45 - 11:00 a.m.
Panel Two:
11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Igor Torbakov
"The Impact of the War on Russia-Turkish
Relations"
Senior Researcher
Finnish Institute of International Affairs,
Helsinki, Finland
John C. K. Daly
"The Strategic Implications of the Montreux
Convention
for Non-Black Sea Powers"
Fellow in Eurasian Defense and
Security Affairs
The Jamestown Foundation
*Keynote Luncheon Speaker*
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Graham Fuller
“Turkey and Georgia in the Changing Landscape of
Eurasia”
Afternoon Panel:
1:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Paul Goble
“Caucasian Diasporas and Turkish Foreign Policy”
Director
of Research and Publications
Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy
Ibrahim Kalin
“The Internal Dynamics of Turkish Foreign
Policy”
Director General SETA
Foundation for Political, Economic and
Social Research
Ankara and Georgetown University
Dato Soumbadze
“A Georgian Perspective of Turkey’s Role in the
Caucasus”
Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
9:30 A.M. - 3:30 PM
The Jamestown
Foundation
1111 16th St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
**$25 registration fee**
Registration fee can be paid in advance through Paypal or at the
event
Lunch will be provided.
Event Overview:
The Russia-Georgia war this past summer has had tremendous regional
repercussions for Turkey’s role in the South Caucasus. Since the war, Ankara has
taken steps to play a wider regional role by appearing to work in concert with
Russia, which culminated with the announcement of the Caucasus Stability Pact.
As the anchor of NATO’s eastern flank, Turkey maintains historic ties to the
Caucasus and its ties to Abkhazia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, make Ankara an
important player in regional security. However, Turkey’s deepening ties to
Russia raise questions about the geopolitical orientation of Turkey in light of
U.S. support for Georgia during the recent war as Ankara struggles to play a
delicate balancing act between the regional powers. At stake for Washington is
America’s continued strategic access to the Black Sea via the Bosporus and
Russian territorial aspirations to Crimea. Join us for a full day discussion on
Turkey and the Caucasus after Georgia as we address Ankara’s changing ties to
the South Caucasus and its implications for regional security.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Graham E. Fuller is currently an independent writer, analyst, lecturer and
consultant on Muslim World affairs and Adjunct Professor of History at Simon
Fraser University in Vancouver. He received his BA and MA at Harvard University
in Russian and Middle Eastern studies. He served 20 years in the Foreign
Service, mostly the Muslim World, working in Germany, Turkey, Lebanon, Saudi
Arabia, North Yemen, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong. In 1982 he was appointed the
National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia at CIA, and in 1986
Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at CIA, with overall
responsibility for all national level strategic forecasting.
In 1988 Mr. Fuller left government and joined the RAND Corporation where he
was a Senior Political Scientist for 12 years. His research focused primarily on
the Middle East, Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and problems of
ethnicity and religion In politics. His studies for RAND include a provocative
1991 study on the geopolitical implications of the Palestinian “Intifada”; a
series of studies on Islamic fundamentalism in Turkey, Sudan, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Algeria; the survivability of Iraq; the “New Geopolitics of Central
Asia” after the fall of the USSR; and problems of democratization and Islam. He
is author of the following books:
• The Center of the Universe: the Geopolitics of Iran , Westview,
1991;
• The Democracy Trap: Perils of the Post-Cold War World, Dutton,
1992;
• The New Foreign Policy of Turkey: From the Balkans to Western China ,
(with Ian Lesser), Westview, 1993;
• A Sense of Siege: The Geopolitics of
Islam and the West , (with Ian Lesser), Westview, 1994;
• Turkey’s Kurdish
Question (with Henri Barkey), Rowman and Littlefield, 1997;
• The Arab Shi’a:
the Forgotten Muslims (with Rend Francke), St. Martin’s, 1999;
• The Future
of Political Islam , (Palgrave, May 2003).
• The New Turkish Republic:
Turkey's Pivotal Role in the Middle East, US Institute of Peace, 2008.
Many other articles appeared in Orbis, Current History, Middle East
Insight, The Middle East Journal, Mediterranean Quarterly,. Mr. Fuller is a
regular op-ed contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles
Times, and Christian Science Monitor. He has appeared frequently on ABC’s
“Nightline,” ABC Evening News, CNN, PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer, and Fox
Television News; and comments regularly for BBC radio, Voice of America and
other news stations. He has an extensive knowledge of foreign languages
including Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Chinese, and is the author of the
popular book
**
Dr. John C.K. Daly is Washington based consultant on Eurasian defense
and naval security issues. He is a frequent writer for the Jamestown
publications Eurasia Daily Monitor and Terrorism Monitor. He received his Ph.D.
in 1986 in Russian and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Slavonic and
East European Studies, University of London.
Daly has worked on issues regarding Russia, the Middle East, Turkey,
Central Asia and the Caucasus for over 30 years. His book Russian Sea Power and
the Eastern Question (Naval Institute Press, 1991) dealt extensively with
Russian-Turkish relations. Other writings on Turkey include “Analysis: Turkey
and Terrorism” UPI 21 November 2003; “Turkey and the Kurds: an End in Sight”
Jane’s Terrorism & Security Monitor April 2002; “The Irresistible Force
& the Immovable Object: Russia, Turkey, Oil & Straits” Central
Asia-Caucasus Analyst 20 June 2001; “Turkey's Choke Hold on Caspian Oil” in The
Russian April-May 1998 and “Oil, Guns and Empire: Turkey, Caspian ‘New Oil’ and
the Montreux Convention,” Caspian Crossroads Fall 1997.
Since 2003 Daly has been an international correspondent from United Press
International. In 1999 while at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of Johns
Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, he founded the
Cyber-Caravan, which continues today under the title The Central Asia-Caucasus
Analyst. Daly subsequently served as director of programs at the Middle East
Institute. His writing has appeared in Jamestown's Spotlight on Terror, Eurasia
Daily Monitor, China Brief and Terrorism Monitor, along with Jane's Defense
Group's Intelligence Watch Report, Jane's Intelligence Review, Terrorism Watch
Report, Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor and Islamic Affairs Analyst,
Caspian Crossroads, ISN and as the Christian Science Monitor, along with being a
contributing editor for Vanity Fair on terrorism.
**
Dr. Mitat Çelikpala is Associate Professor of International Relations at
TOBB Economy and Technology University, Ankara. He was born in Ankara on 19
October 1969. He graduated from Middle East Technical University Dep. of
Political Science and Public Administration. He received his MA and PhD on
International Relations from Bilkent University. He has published widely on the
Caucasus, North Caucasian Diaspora, people and security in the Caucasus and
Black Sea regions and Turkish-Russian relations. He lectures at TOBB ETU,
Hacettepe University, War College and Turkish National Security Academy on
Turkish Foreign Policy, the Politics of the Caucasus and Central Asia and
Turkish Political Structure and Political life.
**
Ibrahim Kalin, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at the Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington DC and the
founding-director of the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social
Research based in Ankara, Turkey. He received his B.A. in History from the
University of Istanbul, Turkey, and Ph. D. from the George Washington
University, Washington DC. He received his training in history, humanities and
Islamic studies.
As director of SETA (
www.setav.org),
Dr. Kalin has taken an active part in a number of regional initiatives and
participated in numerous meetings and conferences. He has written extensively on
Turkey's role in its region and Turkish politics. His columns appear in the
English daily Today’s Zaman. His book on Islam and the West (in Turkish) has
been awarded the 2007 Best Book Award by the Turkey Writers Association.
**
Paul Goble is director of research and publications at the Azerbaijan
Diplomatic Academy in Baku. Prior to joining that institution but after retiring
from the U.S. government in 2004, he was vice dean for the social sciences and
humanities at Audentes University in Tallinn and a senior research associate at
the EuroCollege of the University of Tartu in Estonia. Earlier, he served in a
variety of capacities in the U.S. government, including at the Department of
State and Central Intelligence Agency; at U.S. international broadcasting
institutions like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Voice of America, and
at various think tanks, including the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, the Potomac Foundation, and the Jamestown Foundation. The editor of five
volumes on ethnicity and religion in the former Soviet space, he continues to
prepare daily commentaries on these issues, posting his articles at
www.windowoneurasia.blogspot.com
or on request by e-list (
paul.goble@gmail.com).
Trained at Miami University in Ohio and the University of Chicago, he has been
decorated by the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for his work in
promoting Baltic independence and the withdrawal of Russian forces from those
formerly occupied lands.
**
Saban Kardas holds a Master of Science degree in international relations
from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and a Masters degree in
European Studies from the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn,
Germany. He is employed by the Department of International Relations at Sakarya
University, Turkey. He is currently an associate instructor at the University of
Utah, where he is completing his doctoral dissertation on Turkish-American
relations.
He has published scholarly articles and book chapters on Turkish domestic
and foreign policies. He occasionally contributes to Jamestown Foundation’s
publications, as well as Turkish newspapers. He is also the assistant editor of
the journal Insight Turkey, and serves as the chair of the committee organizing
the annual Middle East & Central Asia Conference (
www.utah.edu/meca).
**
David Soumbadze is a coordinator of the fellowship programs for young
leaders from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan at the Central
Asia-Caucasus Institute at the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies,
Johns Hopkins University. He holds a BA and MA in Economic, Political and Social
Geography from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia (1982) and
a Master's Degree in International Policy and Practice from the George
Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs (2008).
From 1994 to 2006 David Soumbadze worked for the Embassy of Georgia in the
USA, Canada and Mexico as a Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission in charge of
political and security affairs. Twice (2002 and 2006) he also served as a Charge
d’Affaires of Georgia in the United States. Prior to coming to Washington David
Soumbadze worked as an adviser in the office of the National Security Adviser to
the President of Georgia (1992-1994) and as a Deputy Head of NATO and
Disarmament Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (1992). He
also served as an Executive Secretary of the State Commission on Georgia’s
Participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace Program (1993-1994).
From 1982 to 1991 David Soumbadze was a Deputy Head of System Analysis
Department in the Institute of Information and Management in Tbilisi, Georgia.
He has held the diplomatic rank of Envoy Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary.
**
Igor Torbakov is Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute of
International Affairs in Helsinki. A trained historian, he specializes in
Russian and Eurasian history and politics. He was a Research Scholar at the
Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; a Visiting
Scholar at the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars, Washington DC; a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, New York; a
Visiting Fellow at Harvard University; and a Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for
Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden. He holds an MA in History from Moscow State
University and a PhD from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.
Directions 1111 16th St NW
Washington, DC
(Near the intersection of 16th and L)
By Metro:
The closest metro stops are Farragut West (orange-blue lines) and Farragut
North (red line)
