Dear Friends,

We are delighted to invite you to the panel themed “Analysis of the Syria Issue From Political, Diplomatic and Legal Perspectives” to be held by Georgetown University alumni and ILI Istanbul International Law Association on November 19, 2019.

Please find the credentials of the panelists below.

SEATING IS LIMITED, PLEASE RSVP BY FRIDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2019 AT This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ali Bilge Cankorel, Ambassador (Retired)

Ali Bilge Cankorel graduated from Istanbul American Robert College and earned his bachelor’s degree from Ankara University Faculty of Political Science in 1969. He completed his master’s degree at Ohio State University.

He joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971 and performed several duties at the local and foreign diplomatic missions of the ministry. He participated in the negotitions for the Yugoslavia Crisis while he was serving as an undersecretary and minister-counsellor at the United Nations Office in Geneva. He served as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Turkey in 1995-1997, as an advisor to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997-2001, and as the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey in 2001-2005.

He was appointed as an advisor to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006 once again, served as the Ambassador of the OSCE Office in Baku between 2009-2011 and retired.

Ahmet Ünal Çeviköz, Ambassador (Retired)

Ünal Çeviköz was born in 1952 in Istanbul. He graduated from Kadıköy Maarif College and has bachelor’s degrees from Boğaziçi University Faculty of English Language and Literature (1974) and Faculty of Political Science (1978). He joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and served as the second secretary at the Turkish Embassy in Moscow and as Consul at the Turkish Embassy in Bergenz after completing his local duty. After he served as the Undersecretary at the Turkish Embassy in Sofia, he joined the NATO International Secretariat in 1989.

In 1993, he earned his master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Brussels. He took part in drafting the NATO-Russia Founding Act and then returned to his duty at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1997). He served as the Ambassador of Azerbaijan (2011-2004) and Iraq (2004-2006) to Turkey after completing his local duty as Head of the Balkan Cluster and as Deputy General Manager of Central Asia-Caucasus.

He was the Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara (2007-2010). He was then appointed as Turkey’s Ambassador to London (2010) and returned to Turkey when his service ceased in the summer of 2014.

Ünal Çeviköz was elected President of the 28th session of the International Maritime Organization General Assembly in 2013. He wrote Foreign Affairs columns on Radikal, Hürriyet, and Hürriyet Daily News. Ünal Çeviköz is Istanbul Deputy and CHP Vice President for Foreign Affairs.

Prof. Dr. Turgut Tarhanlı

Turgut Tarhanlı is a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University. His main fields of study are international peace and security law, procedures for the protection of human rights through international mechanisms, international treaty law, human rights activism, and the legal regime for transit and carriage through straits.

He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law (1979), and after his graduation, he became a lecturer in Public International Law at the same university. He furthered his studies with a postgraduate degree from New York University School of Law. He earned a Juris Doctorate in Public Law in 1990 and became an associate professor in 1996.

He joined Istanbul Bilgi University in the 1999-2000 academic year as a professor and became the dean of the Faculty of Law in 2002.

Turgut Tarhanlı is a founding member of the following organizations: Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Assembly, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Rights Foundation of Turkey, Amnesty International Turkey, and Istanbul University Faculty of Law Alumni Association. He is also a member of Transperancy International, International Affairs Forum, and the Istanbul Bar Association.