Biography
After graduating from Gazi University Department of International Relations, Orhan completed his masters degree in International Relations from Hacettepe University; and his thesis was entitled, “Identity's Effect on Syria's Regional Policies (1946-2000)”. Orhan is a PhD candidate in International Relations at Abant Izzet Baysal University. Title of his PhD dissertation is “The Contagion Effect of Syria Crisis: Comparative Analysis of Turkey and Lebanon”
Oytun Orhan, who started to work as a researcher in the Middle East Department at ASAM (Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies) in 1999, continued to work here until 2009. Orhan has been working as a researcher and then as Levant Studies Coordinator at ORSAM (Center for Middle Eastern Studies) since 2009. Mainly working on Syria and Lebanon, Orhan has carried out studies on Israel-Palestine, Iraq, the Middle East and Turkey's Middle East policy as well. He worked on several projects that studied the impact of the Syrian civil war on neighboring countries, the effects of Syrian civil war on the Syrian minority groups, the situation of the Syrian refugees in the neigboring countries and more. Orhan has extensive field experience in all regions of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and also conducted substantive research in Turkey-Syria border area. Orhan is a regular contributor to different web sites, newspapers and news agencies. He has appeared on all Turkish TV channels and Al-Jazeera Arabic, Al Arabiya TV, Rudaw TV, Kurdistan 24 TV, Russia Today TV and more. Orhan has also been quoted by several national and international media outlets.