Dr. Ahmet Erdi Öztürk is a Reader in Politics and International Relations at London Metropolitan University and a non-resident fellow at ELIAMEP (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy). He serves as the section chair of the International Studies Association’s (ISA) Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Studies (ENMISA) section and is the co-editor of the Edinburgh University Press series on Modern Turkey and Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. Between 2021 and 2023, he held a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship at Coventry University (UK) and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). Previously, he was a Swedish Institute doctoral and post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO) at Linköping University from January 2017 to January 2019, and a Post-Doctoral Scholar in Residence at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in 2019. From 2016 to 2019, he also served as the Turkey correspondent for EUREL (Sociological and Legal Data on Religions in Europe and Beyond). Dr. Öztürk received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Strasbourg with the highest distinction (exceptional mention) in November 2018. His dissertation, titled “Religion, Identity, and Power: Turkey’s Desire for Domination in the Balkans under the AKP Rule,”explores the intersection of religion and foreign policy. He also holds an MA in Political Science from Hacettepe University and an MRes in Political Science from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, politics, and international relations, with particular emphasis on religion’s role in foreign policy, conflict, and peace processes. He is the author, co-author, or editor of nine books, more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 25 book chapters. His commentary and analyses frequently appear in international media outlets such as Open Democracy, The Conversation, HuffPost, and France 24. His academic reports have been published by leading think tanks including the Berkeley Center, RUSI (Royal United Services Institute), and the Middle East Institute. Dr. Öztürk is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the ISA’s Emerging Scholar Award in 2021, 2022, and 2023; the 2024 Academic of the Year award from the London-based Centre for Turkey Studies (CEFTUS); and the Rising Star Award from London Metropolitan University in 2021.
