External Advisory Board
Prof. Dr. Zeynep Alemdar, Okan University & Women in Foreign Polcy
Professor Zeynep Alemdar is the faculty member of the Department of International Relations and the Head of the Gender Studies Research Center at İstanbul Okan University. She served as the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Administrative Sciences at Okan University. She is the founder and director of the Women in Foreign Policy (WFP14), an initiative to promote women’s voices on hard security issues to encourage female participation in foreign policy decision-making and to involve women at all levels of peacemaking, historical reconciliation and resolving frozen conflicts. She is the former president and still serves on the executive board of the Turkey-EU Association and the Turkish Council of the European Movement, a preeminent independent civil society organization in Turkey to promote membership to the EU. Her research examines the interaction between international and domestic politics, including civil society and democratization issues and Turkey-EU relations. Her policy-oriented work focuses on women, peace and security agenda and feminist foreign policy. She has extensive consultancy experience with the UNWomen, the European Union and the World Bank for gender equality, women’s empowerment and women’s leadership projects.
She is the recipient of the Next Generation Hurford Fellowship of the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, earned her PhD in Political Science from the University of Kentucky. She received her MA from Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce and her BA in economics from Université de Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, Yildiz Technical University & Economic Development Foundation (IKV)
Çiğdem Nas is an Associate Professor of International Relations and the Secretary-General of the Economic Development Foundation. She is a graduate of the Political Science Department of Bosphorous University and received her Masters degree on European social policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She completed her PhD on Politics and International Relations of the EU at the Marmara University EU Institute and worked at the same Institute as a researcher and Assistant Professor between 1994 and 2007. She is a Lecturer at the Yildiz Technical University since 2007 and has been working since that date also at the Economic Development Foundation which is an NGO dedicated to Turkey’s EU integration. Her research interests cover the European Union, European integration, European politics and Turkey and EU relations.
Brigadier General (Ret.) Mehmet Okkan, National Defence University
Major General (R.) Mehmet Okkan was born in Zile in 1962 and completed his education at Bursa Işıklar Military High School and the Military Academy. He reached the rank of Lieutenant in 1984 and became General Staff Officer in 1994. He studied International Relations in France in 2000-2001. Mehmet Okkan, who served in important positions such as the Head of the Land Forces Organization Department, the Chief of Operations and the Chief of Operations of the General Staff, retired in 2017. Mehmet Okkan pursues a Ph.D. degree in the field of International Security Studies at ATASAREN of National Defense University in Istanbul. He speaks fluent French and English and intermediate level of Russian.
Mr. H. Çağatay Özdoğru, CEO, Esas Holding
Çağatay Özdoğru is the CEO of Esas Holding in charge of all business lines, including real estate, private equity, venture capital, social investment and wealth management, and is on the investment committees of all of them.
Previously, Çağatay was the president of IT & Telecommunications Group at Sabancı Holding. Prior to that, he held various positions at France Telecom Group, where he last served as the executive vice president of the MEA region at Orange Business Services. He was also a member of the Global Operating Committee. In 2020, Çağatay was appointed as the chairman of Türkiye - France Business Council at DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Council) and Independent Board Member of Fenerbahçe Football A.S in 2021. Previously, he served as the chairman of Türkiye - Sweden Business Council and Türkiye - Croatia Business Council, and board member of TBV (Türkiye IT Foundation) and TUBISAD (Türkiye IT Industry Association). He was also the president of Sigortamnet İTÜ Basket of Turkish Basketball League between 2018-2019. Çağatay Özdoğru earned his M.S. degree in Telecommunications Engineering from George Washington University, where he received the Hall of Fame Award for Alumni in 2016, and B.S. degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Istanbul Technical University.
Prof. Dr. Yüksel Yalova, Former Minister of State and Deputy Speaker of TGNA
Prof. Dr. Yüksel Yalova has served as a member of Turkish Grand National Assembly and Vice-President of the Assembly for three consecutive terms between 1991 and 2001. During his term, Dr. Yalova has been appointed as the Minister of State responsible of privatization between 1999 and 2001. Dr. Yalova supervised numerous privatization processes of public entities from various sectors. He holds a close relation with the Privatization Authority that he assisted its development. He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law and Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. He received his MA and Ph.D. degrees at Marmara University’s Social Sciences Institute.