“Towards the Defining Moment in Cyprus Peace Negotiations”

Prof. Ahmet Sözen

The 17th event in Sidestreets’ “Conversations on Culture” series in Kyrenia will be the presentation “Towards the Defining Moment in Cyprus Peace Negotiations” by Professor Ahmet Sözen. The presentation will be in English. Space is limited, so please call and reserve in advance.

Prof. Sözen’s presentation will be in three parts. He will first provide a brief historical background on the inter-communal peace negotiations in Cyprus, focusing on the current round of negotiations, where he will analyze the areas of convergence between the two Cypriot leaders as well as the sticking issues in front of them. In the second part, he will present some of the results of island-wide public opinion polls that the Cyprus 2015 Initiative conducted to lay the grounds for answering the question: “Are the two communities ready for a comprehensive solution based on the established UN parameters?” In the last part, based on the analyses of the two earlier parts, Prof. Sözen will talk about probable future scenarios for Cyprus. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

Dr. Ahmet Sözen is currently the Founding Director of the Cyprus Policy Center. He has taught at Eastern Mediterranean University (North Cyprus, 1994), the University of Missouri (USA, 1994-1999), Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey, 1997-98) and the University of Bahçeşehir (İstanbul, Turkey, 1999-2004). Dr. Sözen was an intern at the National Security Archive, Washington DC in 1993; he served as the director of ISTAM (the Istanbul Strategic Research Center) from 2000 to 2004, and is a regular analyst of the Politics Institute, Vienna. Educated in Conflict Resolution in various countries including the US and Cyprus, he has been invited to instruct and hold seminars on Conflict Resolution around the world and has worked on international projects under such sponsors as TESEV ("Analysis of the Annan Plan") and IMF ("Integration of Turkey with Financial Markets." Dr. Sözen is a member of the International Studies Association (ISA) and the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM); he is a referee for the journals International Studies Quarterly, International Studies Perspectives and Turkish Studies, and he is also a reviewer for such international academic journals as Turkish Studies and the International Journal of Middle East Studies.

The event (presentation and full Sunday luncheon) is scheduled for Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 12:00, at Onar Village in Kyrenia. The cost of admission is 30 TL, and seats should be reserved in advance at Sidestreets, Tel: 229-3071. info@sidestreets.org, www.sidestreets.org