Although Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952, its contribution to the Western alliance has been questioned in the past two decades due to deteriorating relations. The recent war in Ukraine has once again highlighted Turkey’s role in NATO. Taking into consideration the historical ups and downs in relations, this event will assess the past and future of Turkish membership in NATO.

The questions that will be addressed include the following: How have relations between Turkey and NATO evolved in the past 70 years? What has been the Turkish strategy toward NATO in the past two decades? How have the US and the NATO alliance approached Turkey since the early 2000s? The talk will also assess the future prospects of Turkey’s role in NATO given the changing regional circumstances in the Black Sea region.

Meet our speakers and chair

Oya Dursun-Özkanca (@OyaOzkanca) is the Endowed Chair of International Studies and Professor of Political Science at Elizabethtown College, USA. Her research interests include Turkish foreign policy, transatlantic security, European Union, South East Europe and peace operations. She is the author of Turkey–West Relations: The Politics of Intra-alliance Opposition.

Rich Outzen (@RichOutzen) is a geopolitical consultant and a retired colonel and foreign area officer who served in the US State Department’s Policy Planning Staff and as an advisor to several secretaries of state in the US. He spent a decade in the Middle East, including combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is currently a doctoral candidate at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

Gencer Özcan is a Professor of International Relations at Istanbul Bilgi University. His research concentrates on Turkish foreign and security policy, foreign policy analysis and the Middle East. He has published widely on Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East, the role of the security sector in decision making and the development of the national security concept in Turkish political history.

Yaprak Gürsoy (@ygursoy) is a Professor and the Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at the LSE European Institute. She has worked on Turkish civil-military relations and foreign policy, including Turkey's cooperation with the EU and NATO. She is the author of Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey, and Beyond.

More about this event

Contemporary Turkish Studies focuses on the politics and economy of Turkey and its relations with the rest of Europe. The programme aims to promote a deeper understanding of contemporary Turkey through interdisciplinary and critical research, teaching and related public activities. 

The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSETurkey