IR Dept. Holds Seminar Marking 20 Years of Turkey-Belarus Diplomatic Relations
On March 6, the Department of International Relations' Center for Russian Studies held a roundtable meeting marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Turkey.
The event attracted a significant level of attendance from a number of embassies in Ankara. Ambassador Ulfat Kadyrov of Uzbekistan and diplomats from the Russian, Kazakh, Tajik and Kyrgyz embassies, as well as many Bilkent students, were among the attendees.
The roundtable opened with introductory remarks by Dr. Hasan Ali Karasar of the IR department, Ambassador Valery Kolesnik of the Republic of Belarus and Prof. Dr. Vladimir Klunya, vice rector of the Belarusian State University. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Karasar and presentations were made by Visiting Assoc. Prof. Mark Almond (Bilkent), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hakan Kırımlı (Bilkent), Mrs. Nadezhda Kunets (Belarusian State University), Asst. Prof. Sean McMeekin (Bilkent), Prof. Viktor Shadursky (dean of the International Relations Faculty of the Belarusian State University), Prof. Norman Stone (Bilkent), Assoc. Prof. Oktay Tanrısever (METU)and Assoc. Prof. Tansu Türker (Ankara University). The presentations examined the past, present and future of Turkish-Belarusian relations.