The Society For International Affairs, Tetso Chapter in collaboration with Institute For World Affairs & Security presents a webinar titled ‘Ripples throughout Eurasia-Turkish-Russian Relations after Ukraine’ with Samuel Halton, an Independent Researcher, on 24th March 2022 at 3:00 PM.
About the Speaker: Samuel Halton is an independent researcher based in Istanbul, Turkey. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Middle East Studies from the University of California (UCD) and an M.A. in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of London- School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Samuel’s research focuses on the history of conflict, nationalism, and migration in the borderlands of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. His master’s dissertation focused on competing concepts of national identity in Turkey and their effects on Turkish foreign policy. He has volunteered with Syrian refugees in Turkey and has conducted fieldwork on the Turkish-Syrian border. Samuel spent almost two years working in Iraqi Kurdistan and previously worked as a conflict observer in the Palestinian territories. In 2019 he was a research assistant at the Middle East Institutes Turkish Studies Department in Washington D.C.During this time, he researched developments in both the Syrian and Libyan civil wars and studied Turkish-Russian relations.
About the Webinar: Turkey is a country at the crossroads of Europe, The Caucasus, and the Middle East and controls the strategically important Bosporus strait. The war in Ukraine will not only affect Europe but will have an effect on the whole of Eurasia. Turkey’s geography gives it options, but it also means it has to find a difficult balance in a precarious area. Though Turkey has been known to negotiate with its northern neighbor Turkey is historically at odds with Russia, and despite strained relations with the West, Turkey remains a NATO member. A regional power, Turkey, has had to make agreements with Russia in order to retain control over the land it occupies in northern Syria. While at odds with Russia, Turkey is also a major importer of Russian gas and, in 2017, an importer of the S-400 Russian weapon system. Conversely, Turkey remains on the opposite side of Russia in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine, where they have been providing drones and military training to the Ukrainians in their war against Russia. What does the Ukrainian conflict mean, and how will it affect Turkish-Russian relations and the wider region?
Date: 24th March 2022
Time: 3:00 PM
Meet Link: bit.ly/TetsoSIAETR