09/06/2011
The Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award Was Given to Professor Kemal Kirişci for His Article on a Multidimensional Look at Turkey’s Foreign Policy
Established by Sabancı University in honor of the late Sakıp Sabancı, the Honorary Board of Trustees Chairman of Sabancı University, the “Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards” were given at a ceremony held on Monday, June 6. The ceremony was hosted by Sabancı University Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı and President A. Nihat Berker. The late Sabancı was remembered in the seventh year of his departing.
The theme for this year’s awards was “New Directions for Turkish Foreign Policy in a Changing World: Issues and Opportunities” and the winner was Boğaziçi University Professor Kemal Kirişci with his paper titled “Turkey’s Engagement with Its Neighborhood: A “Synthetic” and Multidimensional Look at Turkey’s Foreign Policy Transformation.”
Established by Sabancı University, the 6th “Sakıp Sabancı International Research Awards” were given at a ceremony hosted by Sabancı University Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı and President Professor Nihat Berker on Monday, June 6 at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum - the Seed. The theme for this year’s awards was “New Directions for Turkish Foreign Policy in a Changing World: Issues and Opportunities” and the winner was Boğaziçi University Professor Kemal Kirişci with his paper titled “Turkey’s Engagement with Its Neighborhood: A “Synthetic” and Multidimensional Look at Turkey’s Foreign Policy Transformation.”
The second prize went to coauthors Güneş Murat Tezcur and Alexandru Grigorescu of the Loyola University Chicago Department of Political Science with their paper titled “Europeanization and Regionalism in Turkish Foreign Policy.” The third prize went to coauthors Clemens Hoffman, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Sussex, and Can Cemgil, doctorate student at the University of Sussex, with their paper “A Pax Turca in the Middle East?”
Honorable mentions were Bilkent University professor Ioannis N. Grigoriadis with his paper titled “Turkey’s New Foreign Policy Activism: Evaluating its Political and Economic Underpinnings” and Yaşar University professor Alper Kaliber with his paper titled “Reorganization of Geopolitics: Understanding the New Activism in Turkish Foreign Policy.”
The opening speech was given by Sabancı University Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı, followed by Martin Sampson, professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota on behalf of the jury, and the first prize winner Kemal Kirişci. *
“As a growing and developing nation, Turkey looks beyond its internal issues and discusses the role it can play regionally and globally, creating ideas, models and visions.”
Güler Sabancı began her speech by explaining that the works of 283 scholars have been assessed since 2006 in connection with this award, and that they were proud to have encouraged academics from around the globe who were willing to think and develop ideas on Turkey.
Emphasizing that the theme of the 2011 awards were of special importance, Sabancı said, “This year, we asked participants to investigate the opportunities that may arise for Turkish foreign policy in a changing world order. This is of paramount importance for Turkey, because as a growing and developing nation, Turkey looks beyond its internal issues and discusses the role it can play regionally and globally, creating ideas, models and visions.”
Güler Sabancı continued, “Applicants were asked to illustrate and illuminate developments in Turkish foreign policy and analyze Turkey’s new and proactive foreign policies. It is my heartfelt belief that the studies and research in this area will help Turkey to realize the potential it possesses in the changing world order.”
Martin Sampson discussed the last two decades in Turkey’s foreign policy
Explaining the decision of the jury panel, University of Minnesota professor Martin Sampson said, “Few if any people in that era could have imagined that two decades later Turkey would have significant latitude to find its own way in a number of internationally crucial foreign policy arenas. The current era is a time in which scholarship has become far more important for understanding and for democratic debate because of these kinds of changes.”
Emphasizing that the award could not have found a better era, in regard either to the fascination of the topic or the importance of informed debate and discussion, Martin Sampson asserted that the papers submitted this year presented an array of terms which underscored the interest of their authors in the orientation and/or the complexity of Turkey’s relationship with the outside world.
Martin Sampson explained that one of the central challenges of the awards this year was to understand the new context in which Turkey is operating, arguing that part of that context was driven by outside factors, while part of the context; however, was the rise of Turkey’s international presence as a result of Turkey’s own efforts. Sampson said, “[This] is precisely why academics and others who analyze Turkey’s international situation are so valuable and why it is so helpful to have an award that helps stimulate and recognize their scholarship.”
Awards were given by Sabancı University Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı, Türkan Sabancı, Sabancı University Board of Trustees Member Sevil Sabancı, Sabancı University Board of Trustees Member and Akbank CEO Suzan Sabancı, Sabancı University President Professor Nihat Berker and Governor of Istanbul Hüseyin Avni Mutlu.
Award winners were presented by Sabancı University Emeritus Professor Üstün Ergüder. The master of ceremonies was Yetkin Dikinciler.
ABOUT THE WINNERS OF THE 2011 AWARDS
24 applications were received from Turkey, Europe and the United States.
The jury panel was composed of Nathalie Tocci( Instituto Affari Internazionali Senior Fellow), Malik Mufti (Tufts University Political Science Professor), Martin Sampson (University of Minnesota Political Science Professor), Riva Kastoryano (Director, Center for International Studies and Research, Paris), Mustafa Aydın (President of Kadir Has University), Üstün Ergüder (Sabancı University Emeritus Professor and Director of the Education Reform Initiative) and Sabri Sayarı (Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Professor)