Perspectives on Political Reform in the Middle East and Caucasus: Prospects for Stability and New Challenges

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A symposium was held for two days at TOBB ETU campus on 8-9 September 2015, in cooperation with the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM), Moscow-based PolitKontakt and TOBB University of Economics and Technology. Academicians, researchers and agency representatives from Russia and Turkey as well as from countries such as Armenia, Ukraine, Iraq and Iran attended the meeting.

The symposium started with the opening remarks by ORSAM President Şaban Kardaş, the Rector of TOBB ETU Prof. Dr. Adem Şahin, Head of International Relations Department in TOBB ETU Haldun Yalçınkaya and Executive Director of PolitKontakt Andrei Medvedev. At the first day of the symposium, three sessions titled "Strategic Challenges to Regional Stability and Perspectives on the Formation of Collective Security System”, " The Strategies of Global Players and Regional Security Problems", and " Perspectives on Political Reform in the Middle East and Caucasus: Prospects for Stability and New Challenges " were organized. At the first session, the perception of security in the Caucasus and the Middle East, the current security situation, the possible forms of a new security system and possible causes that bring instability to the region were discussed. At the second session of the symposium, which also took a tense attention, perspectives and policies of global players toward the Middle East and Caucasus were addressed, while the last session of the symposium handled the possibility of cooperation by suggesting analyses which can contribute to the resolution of Syrian crisis, and regional and global factors that may trigger Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The second day of the symposium on 9 September covered the sessions titled “Turkish foreign policy:  putting national interest into practice in the regional and world political system", "The perspective on regional economic cooperation " and " International Cooperation in the Resolution of Regional Conflicts". In these sessions, the main trends in Turkish foreign policy, the EU accession process and Turkey's foreign policy, the cooperation between Turkey and Russia for the security of the gas supply to Europe and the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the regional security were discussed.

During the symposium, participants had the opportunity to contribute to the presentations through comments and questions at the end of each session; and hence expressing different perspectives on the subject became possible.

"The Challenges and Risks Threatens The Regional Security in the Middle East and the Caucasus: External Factors and Internal Contradictions" Symposium ended with the closure remarks by the Head of International Relations Department in TOBB ETU Haldun Yalçınkaya and the Executive Director of PolitKontakt Andrei Medvedev.