Kerem Öktem is a professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, in Italy.
Öktem’s research project for his Mercator-IPC Fellowship is titled “The Emergence of a Muslim Patron State: Freedom and Diversity in German-Turkish Relations.”
Öktem’s main interests lie in the connection between domestic politics and foreign policy, nationalism, and the politics of ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities and social movements in Turkey. He was a research fellow at the University of Oxford. He is an expert in Middle Eastern Studies, Turkish Politics, and International Relations. In terms of regional perspective, he seeks to frame Turkey’s politics and recent history within the context of its overlapping neighborhoods: the Middle East, Southeast Europe, the European Union, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. In terms of methodological approaches, he mostly works with qualitative research tools and ethnographic fieldwork methods.
He completed his PhD at the School of Geography at the University of Oxford in 2006, with a thesis on nation building in Turkey as a socio-spatial project (Geographies of Nationalism). Preceding his doctoral studies, he obtained a MSt in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at the Faculty for Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford in 2001, where he also teaches as an Associate Faculty Member. Before his residence in Oxford, he studied and worked in Germany in the field of urban studies.
Turkey's New Diaspora Policy: The Challenge of Inclusivity, Outreach and Capacity
2013/14 Mercator-IPC Fellow Kerem Öktem’s report Turkey’s New Diaspora Policy: The Challenge of Inclusivity, Outreach and Capacity was published in August 2014.
Click here to download the document.
The Nation-State's Blurred Borders: Erdoğan and the Emergence of Kurdistan in Turkey
2013/14 Mercator-IPC Fellow Kerem Öktem’s policy brief “The Nation-State’s Blurred Borders: Erdoğan and the Emergence of Kurdistan in Turkey” was published in January 2014.
Click here to download the document.
Another Empire? A Decade of Turkey's Foreign Policy Under the Justice and Development Party
Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Kerem Öktem and Mehmet Karlı's book Another Empire? A Decade of Turkey’s Foreign Policy Under the Justice and Development Party was published in May 2012 with Istanbul Bilgi University Press.
The Turkish Grand National Assembly: New Challenges and Old Problems
Kerem Öktem, Celia Kerslake, Philip Robins's book Turkey's Engagement with Modernity: Conflict and Change in the Twentieth Century was published in 2010 with Palgrave Macmillan. The book featured a chapter by Senior Scholar Ersin Kalaycıoğlu, titled "The Turkish Grand National Assembly: New Challenges and Old Problems".
Genos Versus Devlet: Conceptions of Citizenship in Greece and Turkey
Othon Anastasakis, Kalypso Nicolaidis and Kerem Öktem's book In the Long Shadow of Europe: Greeks and Turks in the Era of Postnationalism was published in 2009 with Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. The book featured a chapter by Senior Scholar Ayşe Kadıoğlu, titled "Genos Versus Devlet: Conceptions of Citizenship in Greece and Turkey".
The Peace Capacities Network Annual Meeting
The Peace Capacities Network Annual Meeting, organized by the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and Istanbul Policy Center at Sabancı University, took place on July 9-10, 2014 at IPC Karakoy.
Making ‘Turks Abroad': Turkey's New Diaspora Policies in Western Europe
IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a workshop titled “Making ‘Turks abroad’: Turkey’s new diaspora policies in Western Europe” on July 7, 2014 at IPC. The event was initiated by Mercator-IPC Fellow Kerem Öktem.
New trends in Muslim Studies in Western Europe by Samim Akgönül
IPC-Sabancı University-Stiftung Mercator Initiative convened a panel discussion titled "New Trends in Muslim Studies in Western Europe: Evolutions and Continuities in the Light of Yearbook of Muslims in Europe" with Samim Akgönül, University of Strasbourg, on February 25, 2014 at IPC. The panel was chaired by Mercator-IPC Fellow Kerem Öktem.
Negotiating Political Power in Turkey: Breaking up the Party
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.
Welcoming of the 2013/14 Mercator-IPC Fellows
Welcoming of the 2013/14 Mercator-IPC Fellows took place on October 7, 2013 at Cezayir Restaurant. Welcoming remarks were given by IPC Director Fuat Keyman and Stiftung Mercator President Bernhard Lorentz.
In the panel organized under the framework of welcoming event; IPC Executive Board Member and Brookings Institute Vice President Kemal Derviş, École des hautes études en sciences sociales Professor and Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow Nilüfer Göle, 2013/14 Mercator-IPC Fellow Kerem Öktem, Mercator-IPC Senior Fellow and Former Member of the German Parliament Ruprecht Polenz and IPC Director Fuat Keyman had a discussion titled “Turkey in Europe: Living Together and Democratization.”
Kerem Öktem: Angry Nation: Turkey Since 1989
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.
