Turkey in the Aftermath of the Failed Coup Attempt

Late in the evening on 15 July, an attempted coup d’état was initiated in Turkey by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces. Within less than 24 hours, the attempt to overthrow the government had failed, leaving hundreds dead and thousands injured in its wake. In the days and weeks that followed, mass arrests and wide-ranging suspensions and dismissals of government officials were carried out around the country against the backdrop of an escalating security crisis.

As Turkey slowly returns to some form of normalcy, what can we expect in the future for a country that has in recent years faced a spate of terrorist attacks, war at its borders, an influx of millions of refugees from neighboring Syria and now mutiny within its military ranks? How has the coup attempt and its aftermath affected Turkey-EU relations? Will recent high-level visits and renewed dialogue bridge the gap to restore the trust lost between the two parties?

On September 27, 2016, the European Foundation for Democracy, in collaboration with YPFP Brussels, hosted a closed door policy briefing entitled "Turkey in the Aftermath of the Failed Coup Attempt".

Speakers:

• Dr. Demir Murat Seyrek is a Senior Policy Advisor at the European Foundation for Democracy. He began his career as the Brussels representative of the ARI Movement, a leading Turkish NGO, working on Turkey-EU relations and democratisation. During the Cyprus peace process (2003-2004) he took an active role establishing contacts with the EU institutions and European think-tanks on behalf of the Leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community. Murat has published widely on contemporary aspects of Turkish politics and foreign policy, including in academic journals, newspapers and think tank publications. He also appears regularly on television and in print media. He holds a PhD in Political Science and an MA in European Studies from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) and BSc in International Relations from the Middle East Technical University (Turkey). Murat speaks Turkish, English and French.

• Mr. Haluk Nuray is the Brussels Representative of the Economic Development Foundation (IKV). He graduated from the Political Sciences Faculty in Ankara in 1979 and has an MA in Development Economics from Vanderbilt University in the United States. Following his studies, Mr. Nuray began working for the Turkish Treasury. Between 1988 and 1991, he worked as an Economic and Financial Counselor at the Permanent Delegation of Turkey to the European Communities in Brussels. He returned to Ankara as Head of the Department responsible for Economic and Financial Relations at the EC Affairs Directorate General at the Prime Ministry, Under Secretariat of Treasury and Foreign Trade. He was a member of the Customs Union Steering (Negotiation) Committee from 1992 to 1995. Since 1995, he has served as the Brussels Representative of the Economic Development Foundation (IKV).