Ilhan Uzgel

Part of Turkey: East or West? series. Co-organised with The Transatlantic & Caucasus Studies Institute, London

Listen to the podcast here

6.30-8.00pm | Tuesday 9 June 2009 
Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, LSE

Speaker
Ilhan Uzgel, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Ankara University, Turkey

Turkey: East or West?
The Republic of Turkey, as a secular nation state, was created out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. Since then Turkey has moved steadily westward, being hailed as a model for the Islamic world. Now an established member of NATO, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, though membership of the European Union has proved elusive. But as a nation that straddles two continents (Asia and Europe) it has always had a complex identity. This lecture series looked at the forces that are shaping Turkey from within and the impact and influence Turkey is projecting in the region and beyond; ultimately asking the question: where next for Turkey?