Dr. Onur İşçi: “Beyond Realpolitik: Russian-Turkish Convergence and the Long Arc of Economic Development”
The webinar, co-organized by Kadir Has University International Relations Department and Jean Monnet Chair, will take place on Monday, May 29, with the participation of Dr. Onur İşçi from Bilkent University.
You can follow Dr. İşçi’s speech, “Beyond Realpolitik: Russian-Turkish Convergence and the Long Arc of Economic Development”, on Zoom starting at 5:30 pm (Turkey time).
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85474624399?pwd=Y08yWFNYakgxYUJ2bU1pWnF0MjZSQT09
Abstract: Much of this talk will focus on my new book project, which looks at the long arc of Russian-Turkish interactions since 1920 – a hundred-year period when the drive for economic development has been characteristic. Previous scholars have studied the Russian-Turkish relationship in terms defined overwhelmingly by geopolitics, arguing that these two states are trapped in a pattern that is chronically hostile, inherently destabilizing, or at best, asymmetrically interdependent. I have worked extensively in the Russian and Turkish archives, and my work identifies convergence. I argue that persistent collaboration has been facilitated by a shared conclusion that a statist response was necessary to counter the uneven nature of global economic growth. This talk will also situate my current project in relation to my recently published book on the Soviet Union and Turkey during the Second World War, and to my experience in teaching international relations courses in Turkey.
About the Speaker: Onur Isci received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University with distinction in 2014. Since then, he has been a faculty member of Bilkent University’s International Relations Department and the director of Bilkent’s Center for Russian Studies. Before joining Bilkent, Onur was a Royden B. Davis lecturer at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He specializes on the histories of Russia, Turkey and the two countries’ relationship from the late imperial period to the present day. At Bilkent, he teaches Diplomatic History, 20th Century World Politics, and Turkish Foreign Policy at the undergraduate level, and offers two doctoral colloquia on Russian-Turkish relations and the international history of the Cold War. Onur is the author of two books and various articles that appeared in leading academic journals.