3 November, 2020

June 15,  2020

Istanbul Policy Center organized the webinar “The US is Burning: Racism, Unemployment, Polarization (Amerika Yanıyor: Irkçılık, İşsizlik, Kutuplaşma)” with the participation of Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu, UCLA Scholar Erdem İlter, Director Fuat Keyman, and Research and Academic Affairs Coordinator Senem Aydın-Düzgit on June 4, 2020.

The predominant perception of citizenship in Turkey strongly emphasizes the individual’s responsibilities towards the state. Furthermore, citizenship is traditionally framed by ethnic as well as cultural and religious categories. The social movement that found its source in the Gezi protests of the summer of 2013 puts this understanding of citizenship into question and highlights the importance of equal and active citizenship. Elaborating on the recent debate, the event aimed to explore the potentials of the concept of urban citizenship for Turkey.

IPC organized the webinar Salgın ve Toplum - “Post-Korona Dünya Düzeni: Adalet, Eşitlik ve Temel Özgürlükler” with the participation of Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Çağlar Keyder, Fuat Keyman and Şebnem Gümüşcü on June 15.

Please click here for the event.
 

Please click here for the event.
 

Cengiz Aktar’s book titled Ademimerkeziyet Elkitabı was launched on May 13, 2016 at IPC. Ayşe Kadıoğlu participated as a discussant.

2014/15 Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow Nilüfer Göle’s book European Muslims in Daily Life ( Gündelik Yaşamda Avrupalı Müslümanlar) was launched on February 3, 2016 at IPC.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative organized a launch event for Esra Özyürek’s, European Institute of the London School of Economics, book titled Being German, Becoming Muslim: Race, Religion, and Conversion in the New Europe on September 28, 2015 at IPC. Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu was the moderator of the discussion.

The Cinema-Politics Meeting on “Nationalist Conservatism in Turkey: Çoğunluk (2010) (Türkiye Milliyetçi Muhafazakarlığı: Çoğunluk (2010))” was held on March 27, 2014 at IPC Karakoy.

IPC organized a conference on "Local Elections and Clientelism in Turkey" on March 14, 2014 at IPC Karakoy.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a panel discussion titled “Urban Citizenship in Turkey” with Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow Nilüfer Göle and Director Fuat Keyman on March 4, 2014 at Cezayir Restaurant, Istanbul. Ayşe Kadıoğlu was the moderator of the discussion.

The predominant perception of citizenship in Turkey strongly emphasizes the individual’s responsibilities towards the state. Furthermore, citizenship is traditionally framed by ethnic as well as cultural and religious categories. The social movement that found its source in the Gezi protests of the summer of 2013 puts this understanding of citizenship into question and highlights the importance of equal and active citizenship. Elaborating on the recent debate, the event aimed to explore the potentials of the concept of urban citizenship for Turkey.

The book launch of Negotiating Political Power in Turkey: Breaking up the Party by Elise Massicard and Nicole F. Watts took place on October 10, 2013 at IPC Karakoy. 

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a book discussion titled "Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks" with Jenny White on June 25, 2013. IPC Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu made the opening remarks.

IPC hosted the disscussion on a new book Özgürüm Ama Mecburiyet Var” Diyarbakırlı ve Muğlalı Gençler Anlatıyor by Leyla Neyzi and Haydar Darıcı with the participation of Journalist/Author İrfan Aktan on May 29, 2013 at IPC Karakoy.

IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a workshop titled "Turkey’s Migration Policy from 2002 to 2012: An Assessment of the AKP’s Reforms" on February 16, 2013 at IPC. Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu gave the opening remarks in the workshop organized in the framework of 2012/13Mercator-IPC Fellow Seçil Paçacı Elitok’s project.

On September 25, 2012 the welcoming event for the first Mercator-IPC Fellows took place in Istanbul. The event opened with the warm welcoming remarks of Nihat Berker, President of Sabanci University, Bernhard Lorentz, President of Stifung Mercator, and Fuat Keyman, IPC Director. Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow Cem Özdemir, Co-Chairman of the German green party “Alliance 90/The Greens”, gave a keynote speech entitled “Europe at the Crossroads: Why Turkey Matters”. Subsequently, the 2012/13 Mercator – IPC Fellows were introduced through short video clips.

The ensuing panel discussion, entitled “A Silver Lining: German – Turkish Cooperation in Turbulent Times,” offered an intellectually stimulating debate between Kemal Dervis, Member of the IPC Executive Board and Vice President of the Brookings Institution, Ömer Madra, Mercator – IPC Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of Acik Radyo, Secil Pacaci Elitok, Mercator – IPC Fellow, and Ambassador Klaus Scharioth (ret.), Dean of the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs and Member of the IPC’s International Advisory Council. The discussion was chaired by Ayse Kadioglu, Senior Scholar at IPC and Professor at Sabanci University.

IPC in collaboration with Hrant Dink Foundation hosted the “Hrant Dink Memorial Workshop: New Forms of Social Protest” at Cezayir Meeting Hall, on May 25-26, 2012. Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu took the lead in co-organizing the event.

IPC hosted a book launch on May 7, 2012 at its Karaköy headquarters for Türkiye Kime Kalacak? Başbakan’ın Yazdırdığı Kitap, written by Osman Ulagay. Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu moderated the roundtable while Director Fuat Keyman commented on Ulagay’s work.

Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu moderated the off-the-record roundtable at IPC Karaköy Headquarters on January 11, 2012. Former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and 26 guests discussed the next period of Turkish-European relations, the role of the Council of Europe on current issues, and the Presidency of Mr. Çavuşoğlu as well as Turkish foreign policy. Mr. Çavuşoğlu answered questions on Turkey’s place within the Council and its policies regarding newer topics such as the crisis in Greece and the Arab Spring.

IPC hosted a book launch on January 9, 2012 at its Karaköy headquarters for Azınlık: Türk Bağlamında Azınlık Kavramına Çapraz Bakışlar, written by Samim Akgönül of History and Political Science at Strasbourg University. Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu moderated the roundtable while Cengiz Aktar from Bahçeşehir University and İlay Örs from Bilgi University commented on Akgönül’s latest work on minorities in the French, Greek and Turkish contexts.

In his book, Akgönül penetrates deep into the conceptual meaning of minority and offers a fresh perspective on its perception in Turkey. Azınlık is a successful comparative analysis, studying non-Muslims in Turkey, as well as Muslim Turks in Greece and France, through the lens of religion.

IPC hosted the book launch for Yorgo Hacıdimitriadis’in Aşkale – Erzurum Günlüğü, by Professor Ayhan Aktar of the Bilgi University at the IPC Karaköy headquarters on October 18, 2011. Moderated by Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu, the event featured a lively discussion with the book’s author on the not-so-distant Turkish history of forced relocations, its victims and perpetrators.

The workshop titled “Faraway, So Close? Reaching beyond the Pro/Contra Controversy on Turkey’s EU Accession” was held at IPC in June 2-4, 2011. The two-day workshop co-organized by IPC and Freie Universitat, Berlin, started with an opening reception where Thomas Risse presented his new book: A Community of Europeans: Transnational Identities and the Public Sphere. Among the topics discussed were historical institutionalist and comparative approaches to Europeanization, norm diffusion or normativity and migration as well as the impact of the EU norms on migrant flows. 

IPC and the Brookings Institution co-organized the Seventh Annual Sakıp Sabancı Lecture, which featured a keynote speech by Javier Solana, the former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. Solana offered his views on the recent developments concerning Turkey, Europe, and the world today. He emphasized that though Turkey and the EU should work together beyond negotiations at the table, the relationship should thrive at a deeper level. IPC Senior Adviser and Vice President and Director of Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution Kemal Derviş commented on Solana’s remarks, “It’s important to remember that the EU accession project is not just an end in itself, but a big step to a better global order for tomorrow.” Ayşe Kadıoğlu moderated a lively discussion among the audience at Sabancı University which connected to the lecture via teleconference in Istanbul. Headed by Kadıoğlu, the thought-provoking questions by Sabancı University students impressed the audience in both Washington and Istanbul.

After a tour throughout Europe, Kerem Öktem introduced his new book Angry Nation: Turkey Since 1989 at an IPC sponsored book launch on April 5, 2011. Ayşe Kadıoğlu introduced both the author and the book. She praised the book for confronting the established notions of Turkey’s recent past. Kadıoğlu’s remarks were followed by a short introduction and an explanation by the author himself. Nora Fisher Onar of Bahçeşehir University later shared her own comments on the book. The event was concluded with a heated Q&A session.