Co-sponsored by Intercultural Dialogue Institute Toronto & University of Toronto Ethnic, Immigration, and Pluralism Studies Program, a lecture by Prof. Tozun Bahcheli titled “Turkey: Running West, Heading East?” took place at Munk School of Global Affairs, Room 108N on the 11th of April, 2011.
Around 50 scholars attended the lecture where Professor Tozun Bahcheli examined the Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s record in addressing the major domestic and foreign policy challenges that have confronted Turkey in recent decades. On the domestic front, he discussed the reforms that have enhanced civilian government’s authority over the military, and the changes that have been achieved to address the demands of the Kurdish minority. He then evaluated Turkey’s European Union accession course, and whether Turkey is undergoing a fundamental shift in its foreign policy.
Tozun Bahcheli is professor of political science at King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. He has written widely on ethnic conflict in Cyprus, secessionist conflicts in divided societies, Greek-Turkish relations and selected Turkish foreign policy issues. During 1995-1996 he was senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Greek-Turkish Relations Since 1955 (Westview Press, 1990) and co-editor of De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty (Routledge, 2004). Among his recent publications is ‘The Justice and Development Party and the Kurdish Question’ (co-authored with Sid Noel) in Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey; Political Islam, Kemalism and the Kurdish Issue, ed. Marlies Casier and Joost Jongerden (Routledge, 2010).
Prof. Tozun Bahcheli’s Lecture Part 1
Prof. Tozun Bahcheli’s Lecture Part 2