Prof. Dr. Haldun YALÇINKAYA
Prof. Dr. Haldun YALÇINKAYACoordinatorhaldun@etu.edu.tr
Prof. Dr. Haldun Yalçınkaya is the chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at TOBB Economics and Technology University in Ankara / Turkey. Professor Yalçınkaya has been conducting research on Foreign Terrorist Fighters of DAESH and Countering Violent Extremism since 2014 and serving as an academic advisor for the different activities of the NATO Center of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism since 2019. He graduated from Kuleli Military High School and later Turkish Military Academy. During his military service as an officer, he completed his post-graduate studies in International Relations at İstanbul University. Dr.Yalçınkaya studied “peacekeeping” at MA level and “transformation of war” at Ph.D. level. After earning his Ph.D. degree, he had post-doctoral Research and joined the Changing Character of War Project in Oxford University between 2009-2010. Furthermore, during his military service, he served in Afghanistan in 2005. He published two books on war issues and several academic articles/book chapters on International Security issues focusing on new actors of the battlefields as well as terrorism. After serving more than ten years at Turkish Military Academy he has been Professor in International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology since 2013.
Prof. Dr. Şaban KARDAŞ
Prof. Dr. Şaban KARDAŞAcademic Coordinatorskardas@etu.edu.tr
Prof. Dr. Şaban Kardaş is a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at TOBB ETU. He has published scholarly articles and book chapters on Turkish domestic and foreign policies, human rights, energy policies and international security and has been an occasional contributor to Turkish and international media. He has taught classes at Diplomacy Academy, Sakarya University, Police Academy and Turkish Military Academy. He received his doctoral degree in political science from the University of Utah. Dr. Kardas also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the METU in Ankara, and a second master’s degree in European Studies from the Center for European Integration Studies in Bonn, Germany.
Bedi ÇELİK
Bedi ÇELİKAdministrative Coordinator
Bedi Çelik graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1993 as an artillery officer. During his military service, he served as a battery officer, battery commander, and battalion commander in various posts between 1993-2012, also, he worked as an instructor at the Turkish Military Academy between 2005-2009, as a project officer in the Turkish General Staff HQ between 2009-2011 and operation center chief officer at EUFOR Multinational Battalion in Zenica/Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2005. He completed his post-graduate study in Financial Management at Yeditepe University in 1998. After serving 20 years in the Turkish Armed Forces, he retired in 2014 and since then, he has been working as a project administrative coordinator/project senior assistant/researcher in the projects awarded by different institutions such as US Embassy/Ankara, Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry, HEDAYAH/Abu Dabi, NATO, EU. He published one book titled “System Dynamics” and edited three books on Military Leadership.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haluk Karadağ
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haluk KaradağAcademic Coordinator
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Haluk Karadağ is a faculty member at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Baskent University in Ankara. He studied as a visiting research fellow at the Department of Political Science, University of Florida in the United States and Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He worked in the United Nations mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), NATO missions in Kosovo (KFOR) and Afghanistan (RSM). His research interests are conceptual thinking on public diplomacy, security studies, and peacekeeping operations. Dr. Karadağ has a book titled ‘‘Public Diplomacy: A New Dimension in International Relations’’ and several articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Hakan AKIN
Dr. Hakan AKINAcademic Coordinator
Hakan AKIN was born in Eskişehir in 1971. He completed his primary and secondary education in Eskişehir. Having completed his high school education in Izmir in 1989, Akın graduated from the Department of Electrical and Electronics at the Turkish Military Academy in 1993. After completing his MBA in Business Administration at Başkent University, he completed his doctorate in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Public Administration Institute of Turkey and the Middle East (TODAIE) in 2014. Akın, who has many national and international papers and articles in the field of Social Policy, still works as a faculty member in the Department of Health Management at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Yüksek İhtisas University. Akın was among the founding members of the International Studies and Security Research Association, which started its activities in 2022, and the Bodrum Institute, an initiative of the association. He continues his studies on Social Policy, Globalization and Regionalization, Sustainability, Political Science and Public Policies, Health Policies and Health Economics.

Research Assistants

Elif Merve DUMANKAYA
Elif Merve DUMANKAYASocial Media Manager e.dumankaya@etu.edu.tr
Elif Merve Dumankaya is an MA student and a teaching assistant in the Security Studies Graduate Program at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. She holds a B.A. degree in the Department of International Relations from TOBB ETU. During her undergraduate education, she completed cooperative education programs (internships) in institutions such as Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research and STM ThinkTech and conducted researches on areas as follow: defense industry, defense spending/military spending and terrorism. Her current areas of interest focus on terrorism, counter-terrorism and intelligence.
Orçun DEMİR
Orçun DEMİRAdministrative Assistantorcundemir@etu.edu.tr
Orçun Demir holds bachelor's degree from Ege University, Department of International Relations. During his studies, he also participated in an exchange program at the Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen (Norway). He completed his master's degree in international relations at the TOBB University of Economics and Technology while working as a teaching assistant during this period. He is currently continuing his Ph.D. studies in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. Mr. Demir is also working as a research assistant in the same department. His research interests include international political economy, energy security, renewable energy, environmental issues, and sustainable development.
Fatma SEVER
Fatma SEVERProject Coordinatorfatma.seveerr@gmail.com
Fatma Sever is an M.A. student and teaching assistant in Security Studies at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Eskisehir Osmangazi University. During her undergraduate education, she completed the internship programs at the United Nations Population Fund-Women and Girls Safe Space (UNFPA-WGSS) Project and Directorate of Migration Management. Her current research interests include overlapping regionalism, regional security and security governance studies.