Turkey

Brief description of the legal entity

The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) is an independent non-governmental think-tank, analysing Turkey’s most pressing social, cultural, political and economic issues. Based in Istanbul, TESEV was founded in 1994 with the aim to serve as a bridge between academic research and the policy-making process in Turkey, by opening new channels for policy-oriented dialogue and research. TESEV shares its research findings with the widest possible audience in order to encourage civil society to actively contribute to Turkey’s democratic transformation. Its studies are grouped under three Programs: Democratisation, Foreign Policy, and Good Governance.

Short profile of the team members

Dilek Kurban, the scientist in charge of the research team of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, is the Director of the Democratization Program at the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV). She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. She received her Master’s in International Affairs (MIA) in human rights from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and her Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Columbia Law School. Between 1999 and 2001, she worked as an Associate Political Affairs Officer at the Security Council Affairs Division of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York. Dilek Kurban is an editor for Agos, a Turkish-Armenian bilingual weekly. She is a founding member of the Diyarbakır Institute for Political and Social Research (DISA) and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Political Science Department of Boğaziçi University. She has published in the areas of minority and human rights in Turkey, internal displacement in Turkey and European minority and human rights law.

Title: Dr.
Position: Program Officer
Tel: +90 212 292 89 03
Fax: +90 212 292 98 41
E-mail: dilekkurban@tesev.org.tr

Address: Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
Bankalar Cad. Minerva Han
No.2 Kat: 4 Karaköy
34420 Istanbul, Turkey

Esra Elmas (Teaching Assistant, Istanbul Bilgi University) has majored in Media and Communication Systems and minored in Sociology at Istanbul Bilgi University. She received her Master’s in Cultural Studies from Istanbul Bilgi University. Her thesis, published in 2007, focused on the primary school children’s perception of the myth of Atatürk. Apart from that, she has published in the areas of internal migration and civil-military relations in contemporary Turkey. Between 2006-2007, she worked as a reporter in weekly political news magazine, Nokta. Esra Elmas is presently a PhD researcher at the department of Political Science in Galatasaray University.

E-mail: eelmas@bilgi.edu.tr