Professor Ahmet Davutoğlu ([ahˈmet ˈdavutoːɫu]; born 26 February 1959) is a Turkish political scientist, an academic and an ambassador. On May 1, 2009, he was named Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey after being the chief advisor to the Prime Minister of Republic of Turkey.
[edit]Life and career
Professor Davutoğlu was born in Konya, Turkey. He graduated from İstanbul Erkek Lisesi, which is a Deutsche Auslandsschule (German International school) and the Department of Economics and Political Science of the Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. He holds a masters degree in Public Administration and a PhD degree in Political Science and International Relations from Boğaziçi University. Between 1993 and 1999 he worked at the Marmara University and became a full professor in 1999. He was the chairman of the Department of International Relations at Beykent University in Istanbul, Turkey.
He is a father of four and his wife is a medical doctor.
Professor Davutoğlu was granted a title of ambassador by the joint decision of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Abdullah Gül that was made on 17 January 2003 and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey dated 18 January 2003.[1]
His publications include Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory, The Civilizational Transformation and The Muslim Worldin English, Stratejik Derinlik (Strategic Depth), and Küresel Bunalım (The Global Crisis) in Turkish. Especially his book Strategic Depth is a very influential book in Turkey's foreign policy orientation. He is very influential in the military, academic, and government triangle shaping Turkish foreign policy.[2]
Ambassador Davutoğlu was one of the leading actors on behalf of the Turkish government during the shuttle diplomacy for the settlement of 2008 Israel–Gaza conflict. Davutoğlu was appointed as the Foreign Minister of Turkey on 1 May 2009. He has since called for Turkey to become more than just a regional power within Europe and the Middle East and desires Ankarato have a far more influential role in world politics.[3] Davutoğlu is generally linked to the notion of Turkish neo-Ottomanism, which favours a commonwealth with its neighbours and oldOttoman connections.[4] Although his foreign policies have been regarded as neo-Ottomanist by Western and especially U.S. media, Davutoğlu does not accept such a characterization. He stated in an interview with Turkish daily Sabah that "as much as we don't use this conceptualization, the fact that it is being used against us is either because of misunderstanding or lack of goodwill." He argued against the idea that Turkey is trying to establish a neo-Ottoman imperial order by saying that: "I have said that Turkey as a nation-state is equal with any other nation-state of our region whether it is small in population or area. We don't have any hegemony on anyone. Rather what we are trying to do is to contribute to the establishment of a permanent peace in our region. If by order they mean is Pax Ottomana, Pax in the meaning of order, we are trying to establish a order, it is not wrong to say such thing".[5]
He was listed by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the top 100 global thinkers of 2010 for being the brains behind Turkey's global reawakening.[6] In an interview with him he talked about his "Zero Problem Policy" and said that "It is possible to have zero problems if the other actors respect our values. It doesn't mean that we will be silent in order to have good relations with all parties.[7]"
[edit]Selected bibliography
§ Alternative Paradigms: The Impact of Islamic and Western Weltanschauungs on Political Theory. University Press of America, 1993
§ Civilizational Transformation and the Muslim World. Quill, 1994
§ Stratejik derinlik: Türkiye'nin uluslararası konumu. Küre Yayınları, 2001
§ Osmanlı Medeniyeti: Siyaset İktisat Sanat. Klasik, 2005
§ Küresel Bunalım. Küre, 2002.
[edit]References
1. ^ T.C Resmî Gazete, 18 January 2008, Ankara, http://rega.basbakanlik.gov.tr/eskiler/2003/01/20030118.htm#13
2. ^ Biyografi Net, http://www.biyografi.net/kisiayrinti.asp?kisiid=2063
3. ^ Turkey FM Davutoglu embraces mediation role , (in English), bbc.co.uk, 31 Dec 2009
4. ^ Simsek, Ayhan. "The changes and challenges of Turkey's foreign policy". Retrieved 14 December 2010.
5. ^ Batur, Nur. "New Ottomans is not a goodwilled description". Sabah Newspaper. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
6. ^ "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers 7. Ahmet Davutoglu". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
7. ^ Hounshell, Blake. "Mr. 'Zero Problems'". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 14 December 2010.
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