IR4118 Guest Lecture Series Concludes With Former Ambassadors Onur Gökçe and Faruk Loğoğlu
The guest lecture series of the IR4118 course "Turkey and the United States: Common Concerns and New ICT Instruments" has concluded, with former ambassadors Onur Gökçe and Faruk Loğoğlu giving the last lectures in the series. The ambassadors joined IR4118 students to share their diplomatic experience and reflect on Turkish foreign policy and recent regional developments.
Ambassador Gökçe served as Turkey's first ambassador to Israel from 1991 to 1995 during the "golden years" of Israeli-Turkish relations. In his talk, he described the nature of the relationship between Turkey and Israel as "balanced and even-handed" but with a potential to become "sour and confrontational" at certain periods depending on the nature of developments in the Middle East.
He also discussed the recent Israeli apology over the Mavi Marmara raid in 2010, highlighting the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who apologized for any "errors that could have led to the loss of life" rather than admitting responsibility. Ambassador Gökçe stated that the possibility of normalized relations with Israel still exists, however, referring to the fact that relations continued even during the Mavi Marmara crisis years.
The following week, the course hosted Dr. Loğoğlu, former Turkish ambassador to the United States, who is currently vice-chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) and a member of the Turkish Parliament. He discussed Turkey-US relations and spoke about the period (2001-2006) during which he served as ambassador to the US. Reviewing the history of relations between Turkey and the US, Dr. Loğoğlu referred to the shared values of "democracy, rule of law, and human rights" and noted that Turkey-US relations developed beyond NATO membership to encompass bilateral agreements and diplomacy. He also talked about the recent visits of US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry to the region, linking them to developments on the Syrian and Iranian fronts.
By Alp Eren Başer (IR/IV), İlkin Ismayilov (IR/IV), Çağla Kılıç (IR/III), Selay Siperoğlu (IR/IV), Bora Akbay (IR/IV), Yiğit Mahmutoğlu (IR/III), and Pınar Köksal (IR/IV)