“The Evolving Wider Black Sea Region Security Context”

Wednesday 29 May 2013 Kadir Has University Fener Hall 11:00 – 13:00

Biographies

Bogdan AURESCU, State Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Bucharest

Bogdan Aurescu currently serves as Secretary of State for Strategic Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 2010 and 2012 he was Secretary of State for European Affairs, also coordinating the Security Policies Directorate. Holding a PhD in Legal Sciences, he is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague), substitute member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe, alternate representative of Romania to the Danube Commission and arbitrator designated by Romania to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea. Since 2004, Bogdan Aurescu is also Professor Lecturer within the Public Law Department of the Faculty of Law at the University of Bucharest.

Mitat Çelikpala, Associate Professor, Department of International Relations at Kadir Has University, Istanbul

Mitat Celikpala is associate professor of International Relations and Head of International Relations Department at Kadir Has University, Istanbul where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Eurasian Security, Turkish Foreign Policy and Caucasus politics. He also lectures on Turkish foreign policy, politics, history and security at the Turkish War Academy. He serves as academic adviser to NATO’s Centre of Excellence Defense against Terrorism (DATR) and is a board member of the Turkish Armed Forces Strategic Research Centre. He has several academic articles and analyses on the above- mentioned subjects, while he is frequently quoted in the media.

Tedo JAPARIDZE, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, Parliament of ,

Tedo Japaridze currently serves as Member of and also as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and, prior to that, as Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia. Between 1991 and 2002, he served as Head of the Political Analysis and Broadcast Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; as Assistant to the Chairman of the National Security and Defense Council; and as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Georgia to the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.

Oleh SHAMSHUR, Ambassador (Ret.), Non-resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Kyiv

Oleh Shamshur graduated from Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University in 1978 specializing in international relations. He obtained his Ph. D. (History) at the same University in 1982. He started his professional career at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine where he worked at the Institutes of Social and Economic Problems of Foreign Countries and World Economy and International Relations, including 1984-1989 as Director of Programs of ISCPFC. In 1992-1993 he was visiting scholar at the University College London. In 1993 he joined Ukrainian Foreign Service having been posted as First Secretary and Counselor of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva and Minister-Counselor of the Embassy of Ukraine to the Benelux Countries. In 2003-2005 he was the Head of the European Union Department and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In the latter capacity he was Ukrainian chief negotiator of the EU-Ukraine Action Plan. From January 2006 till May 2006 he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the USA. He also worked as Deputy Head of the State Committee of Ukraine for Nationalities and Migration (1996-1998). Ambassador Shamshur is the author of over 80 publications on international migration, ethnic relations and foreign policy. Currently he is a Non-Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and Senior Advisor at the PBN Hill and Knowlton Company. He is a member of the advisory board of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation.

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, Center for International and European Studies, Istanbul (Moderator)

Dimitrios Triantaphyllou is the Director of the Center for International and European Studies at Kadir Has University, where he also teaches international relations. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was previously Director General of the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS) and Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of the Aegean, Rhodes. He is also Associate Editor of the Southeast European and Black Sea Studies (SSCI indexed); a member of the Greek-Turkish Forum; a member of the Governing Board of the European Studies Institute (ESI) at MGIMO University, Moscow; co- convener of the Commission on the Black Sea; and a Member of the Advisory Board of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.