Speakers for this event

• Andreas Krieg

  Andreas Krieg

  Assistant professor for Defence Studies at King\'s College

  Andreas Krieg is an assistant professor for Defense Studies at the School for Security Studies at King's College London. He is also the co-founder of the Near East Centre for Security and Strategy (NECSS) at King's. In his research, Andreas has focused on a variety of different subjects relating to the academic discipline of Security Studies. More recently, Andreas has been exploring the nexus between security and socio-politics in the Middle East after the Arab Spring.

  Assistant professor for Defence Studies ...

• Wadah Khanfar

  Wadah Khanfar

  President of The Al Sharq Forum

  Wadah Khanfar is the President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He is a board member of the International Crisis Group and Global Editors Network (GEN). Khanfar has been named as one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 global thinkers of 2011 as well as one of Fast Company’s ‘Most Creative People in Business’ of the year.

  President of The Al Sharq Forum

• Kamaran Palani

  Kamaran Palani

  Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI)

  Kamaran Mohammad Palani is a Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Research Institute (MERI). He has an MA in Global Security from Keele University in the UK. He has worked for various local and international NGOs and research centers, including Al Mesalla, Peace and Freedom Organization in Kurdistan, PAX, and the at Salahaddin University-Erbil. His research interests include de facto statehood in the international system, post-war security issues, state-building and democratization in Iraq and the Kurdistan region.

  Research Fellow at the Middle Eastern Re...

• Galip Dalay

  Galip Dalay

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Research director at Al Sharq Forum and senior associate fellow on Turkey and Kurdish Affairs at Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He previously worked as a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and as a political researcher at SETA Foundation in Ankara. He is a regular contributor to German Marshall Fund of the United States’ on Turkey policy brief series, and a columnist for Middle East Eye.

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Stra...

• Bader Mustafa

  Bader Mustafa

  Analyst at Omran Strategic Center for Studies

  Bedir Mulla Rashid is an analyst working on Kurdish affairs at OMRAN Center for Strategic Studies. His research focuses on autonomous administration in Northern Syria. He is an MA candidate in political science and international relations.

  Analyst at Omran Strategic Center for St...

• Basheer Nafi

  Basheer Nafi

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum and Senior Research Fellow at Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. He writes weekly columns for Middle East eye. His research interests include Egypt, Iraq, Political Islam, and Middle Eastern Politics in general.

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Stra...

• Bahador Aminian

  Bahador Aminian

  The director general for education department at Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  Bahador Aminian is the director-general for the education and training department at Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  The director general for education depar...

• Na’eem Jeenah

  Na’eem Jeenah

  Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre

  Na’eem Jeenah is the Executive Director of the Afro-Middle East Centre, a research institute based in Johannesburg, South Africa, that focuses on the Middle East and Africa. Na’eem taught political science at the University of the Witwatersrand. His recent publications include: Pretending democracy: Israel, an ethnocratic state (2012) and (co-edited) The PLO: Critical appraisals from the inside (2014). He also coauthored (with Shamima Shaikh) Journey of discovery: A South African Hajj (2002). Na’eem is sought-after as a commentator on a range of issues regarding the Middle East and North Africa, Political Islam, Islam and Muslims in South Africa.

  Executive Director of the Afro-Middle Ea...

• Tamer Badawi

  Tamer Badawi

  Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Tamer Badawi is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. He received an M.A. in International Relations (with a major in International Political Economy) from Central European University in 2016 and a B.A. in Oriental Studies from Alexandria University in 2013. He is a regular contributor to Sada, an online publication managed by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also contributes reports to the Doha-based Aljazeera Center for Studies. Research interests: The political economy of the Middle East, economic development in post-JCPOA Iran, and global energy market trends.

  Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic R...

• Nicola Pedde

  Nicola Pedde

  Director of the Institute of Global Studies (IGS) in Rome

  Nicola Pedde is the Director of the Institute of Global Studies (IGS) in Rome, and the Director of the Geopolitics of the Middle East Journal. He taught International Relations at the University of Rome La Sapienza University and John Cabot University in Rome. He conducts research on the Middle East and the Persian Gulf at the Italian Military Centre for Strategic Studies (Ce.Mi.S.S.) of the Centre for High Defense Studies (CASD) of the Ministry of Defense. He has published numerous essays, including Iran 1979 Islamic Revolution (Rome 2009), Almanac of the Italian airline from 1947 to 2007 (Rome 2007).

  Director of the Institute of Global Stud...

• Murat Yesiltas

  Murat Yesiltas

  Assoc. Professor in the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University

  Assoc. Prof. Murat Yesiltas has completed his BA and MA at the Department of International Relations of Sakarya University, in 2003 and 2009, respectively. He earned his PhD at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Marmara University in 2012 with the thesis titled “Locating Turkey: Geopolitical Mentality and the Army in Turkey.” Yesiltas was a visiting researcher at the Department of European Studies and International Politics of Lancaster University between 2008 and 2009. He was a visiting researcher at Virginia Tech’s Institute of Government and International Relations in 2010-2011. Currently, Yesiltas is an Assoc. Professor in the Middle East Institute at Sakarya University. He also holds the position of director of security studies at SETA Foundation, Ankara, Turkey.

  Assoc. Professor in the Middle East Inst...

• Omar Ashour

  Omar Ashour

  Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter

  Omar Ashour is a Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of University of Exeter and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House in London. He is currently working on a book analysing the military tactics and strategies of IS in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. He specializes in asymmetric armed conflict, Islamist movements, insurgency/counterinsurgency, terrorism studies, and democratization. He is a regular contributor to media outlets including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, CNN, al-Arabiya and others and his op-eds are frequently published in many media outlets in seven languages, in over 40 countries. He previously served as a senior consultant for the United Nations on security sector reform, counter-terrorism, and de- radicalization issues. He is the author of The DeRadicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements.

  Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at t...

• Anthony Biswell

  Anthony Biswell

  Researcher at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies

  He joined the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies in September 2017 as an researcher and is also currently working as an independent Yemen consultant. Prior to joining the center, Anthony was the Senior Yemen Analyst for The Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi. Previously, he worked as a researcher on other Yemen-related projects for IHS while based in Yemen. He obtained an MA in International Conflict Studies at King’s College London in 2011.

  Researcher at the Sana’a Center for St...

• Omer Aslan

  Omer Aslan

  Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Omer Aslan is an Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and a researcher at the Institute for Security Sciences at the Turkish National Police Academy (TNPA). He previously worked at the political research department of the Ankara-based SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. He received his B.A. degree in political science from Bilkent University. After finishing MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he entered the Ph.D. program in political science at Bilkent University in 2010. Ömer is now a Ph.D. candidate at the same university, currently working on his dissertation in the field of civil-military relations. Among his publications are “A Turkish Muslim Between Islamism and Turkish Nationalism: Seyyid Ahmet Arvasi (1932–88)”, and “‘Unarmed’ we Intervene, Unnoticed we Remain: The Deviant Case of ‘February 28th Coup’ in Turkey “. Research Interests: Military and Politics in the Muslim World, External Actors and Military Coup d’états, Police and Politics.

  Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic R...

• Chiara Lovotti

  Chiara Lovotti

  Research Assistant for the MENA Centre at ISPI

  Chiara Lovotti is Research Assistant for the MENA Centre at ISPI. She was awarded her Bachelor's in Foreign Languages and International Relations at the Catholic University of Milan. Lovotti also completed a Master in Development Studies at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) and one in Middle Eastern Studies at the Postgraduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI) of Milan. Prior to this, she worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Development Studies at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. Her research focuses on social dynamics and political transformations in the MENA region.

  Research Assistant for the MENA Centre a...

• Mohammad Affan

  Mohammad Affan

  Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

  Mohammad Affan is the Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum. A medical doctor by training, Affan obtained his MA degree in Political Science from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University of Cairo (2015). He also holds three post-graduate diplomas: One in “Civil Society and Human Rights”, from the Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences at Cairo University (2010), another one in Political Research and Studies from the Institute of Arab Research and Studies at the Arab League (2012), and the third diploma in Islamic Studies from the Higher Institute for Islamic Studies in Cairo (2012). Among his publications is his book titled: “Wahhabism and the Brotherhood: the conflict on the concept of the state and the legitimacy of power.” Affan is currently pursuing his PhD in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Exeter Univesity in the UK. His research interests include, Islamism, State-Theory, and Comparative MENA Studies.

  Training Director at Al-Sharq Forum

• Hassan Ahmadian

  Hassan Ahmadian

  Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran

  Dr. Hassan Ahmadian is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Iran Project, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Dr. Ahmadian is an Assistant Professor of Middle East and North Africa studies at the University of Tehran, and is also a Middle East security and politics fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Tehran. He received his PhD in Area Studies from the University of Tehran. His research and teaching work is mainly focused on Iran’s foreign policy and relations, political change, civil-military relations and Islamist movements in the Middle East. His research and analyses have appeared in peer-reviewed journals as well as prestigious Persian, English and Arabic outlets.

  Assistant Professor at the University of...

• Mohamed Okda

  Mohamed Okda

  Political Consultant, focused on the Middle East and Political Islam

  Mohamed Okda is a Political Consultant, focused on the Middle East and Political Islam; active in the issues of interfaith, crisis mediation and assessment, the economics of conflict and religious–secular dialogue. He is also the founder of Insight into Crisis, a conflict advisory.

  Political Consultant, focused on the Mid...

• Hayder Khafaji

  Hayder Khafaji

  Researcher on Middle Eastern affairs

  Hayder Al-Khafaji is a researcher on Middle Eastern affairs with a specialist focus on Iraq-Iran relations. He holds a postgraduate certificate in Islamic Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a master’s degree from Middlesex University where he is currently completing a Professional Doctorate in Muslim cultures.

  Researcher on Middle Eastern affairs

• Zeynep Coskun

  Zeynep Coskun

  Former Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Zeynep Coskun is a Research Fellow at Al Sharq Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith Fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research concerning the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies. Her research interests include Turkish Foreign Policy, Regional Kurdish Politics, Iraq, Energy Politics and Nationalism

  Former Research Fellow at Al Sharq Strat...

• Ozge Genc

  Ozge Genc

  Ozge Genc is a PhD researcher at the Political Science department of Istanbul Bilgi University on state reform. She worked at the Democratization Program of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) since 2007 and served as its Director from 2012 to 2015. Genç is among the founders of Center for Public Policy and Democracy Studies (PODEM) and also a Research Director.

• Sinan Hatahet

  Sinan Hatahet

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Strategic Research

  Sinan Hatahet is currently a consultant working with a number of think tanks on Syria. His research is concentrated on governance and local councils, anti-radicalization, Islamism, the Kurdish National Movement, and the new regional order in the Middle East. He previously worked as the executive director of the Syrian National Coalition (SC) media office from its creation in late 2012 until September 2014.

  Senior Associate Fellow at Al Sharq Stra...

• Petr Topychkanov

  Petr Topychkanov

  Fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program

  Petr Topychkanov is a fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Nonproliferation Program. Since 2009, he has also held the position of senior researcher at the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO RAN). He has been a member of the editorial board of the Nuclear Club journal (Moscow) since 2009.

  Fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center’s...

• Yury Barmin

  Yury Barmin

  Consultant whose work focuses on issues Related to the Middle East

  Yury Barmin is a risk consultant whose work focuses on issues related to the Middle East and Russia’s positioning in the region. Mr Barmin holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He is an Expert at the Russian International Affairs Council covering the Middle East and North Africa, Moscow’s policy towards the region as well as the conflict in Syria

  Consultant whose work focuses on issues ...

• Ali Reza Gholipour

  Ali Reza Gholipour

  Head of the South Asia Department at IPIS

  Ali Reza Gholipour is the head of the South Asia department in IPIS, a think-tank affiliated with Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He recieved his PhD in international relations from Kharazmi University. As a diplomat, he was posted in Rome and Islamabad.

  Head of the South Asia Department at IPI...

• Muhanad Seloom

  Muhanad Seloom

  Expert in ethno-sectarian conflicts.

  Muhanad Seloom is an expert in ethno-sectarian conflicts. He is a criminologist in training and a linguist [Arabic, English, and Kurdish]. His research focuses on ethno-sectarian conflicts in the Middle East, terrorism and mechanisms of securitization. In his PhD thesis at the University of Exeter, his hypothesis examined the relationship between designating violent groups “terrorist” and the choice to use violence in an ethnic conflict context

  Expert in ethno-sectarian conflicts.

• Haldun Yalçınkaya

  Haldun Yalçınkaya

  Haldun Yalçınkaya 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. After having served more than ten years at the Turkish Military Academy, as of 2013 he became an Associate Professor in International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology

• Yılmaz Ensaroğlu

  Yılmaz Ensaroğlu

  Chief Advisor to the Turkish Ministry of Justice

  Chief Advisor to the Turkish Prime Ministry. He previously served as the president of MAZLUMDER, and director of Law and Human Rights Department of SETA Foundation. He has authored many articles in various books, journals and newspapers on issues of human rights, civil society, democratization, security sector reform, civil-military relations, coup d’états, freedom of religion, secularism, Kurdish question, and hate crimes among others

  Chief Advisor to the Turkish Ministry of...