Prof. Dr. Hülya Toker was born in Yozgat in 1965. She graduated from the Department of History at Hacettepe University in 1986. In 1993, she received her master’s degree from the Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History at Hacettepe University upon completing her thesis entitled “The Activities of the Istanbul Government against the Turkish National Struggle.” In 2004, she completed her Ph.D. at the same Institute with a dissertation entitled “The Greek Community of Istanbul during the Armistice Period.”

Between 1989 and 2018, she worked as a History/Military History Specialist at the Department of Military History and Strategic Studies of the Turkish General Staff. In 2018, she joined the Department of International Relations at Yozgat Bozok University as an Assistant Professor. She was awarded the title of Associate Professor in 2020 and was appointed Professor in 2025.

Prof. Dr. Hülya Toker has published numerous works in the field of military history. In addition to original studies such as Biographies of the Commanders Who Participated in the Gallipoli Campaign (with Documents and Photographs) and Operations of the 15th Corps on the Galicia Front during the First World War, she has translated Ottoman Turkish memoirs written by military commanders of the period into modern Turkish, including Why Were We Defeated in the Balkan War? and War Diary of the Siege of Edirne during the Balkan War.

She also prepared and published Issues 102 and 103 of the Journal of Military History Documents, devoted respectively to “The Serbian Uprising of 1875–1876” and “The Southern Front in the Turkish National Struggle I.” In addition, with the exception of Issues 102 and 103, she contributed, together with other authors, to the preparation for publication of Issues 92 through 116 of the journal.

Prof. Dr. Hülya Toker has also undertaken translation and editorial work for publications concerning the Balkan Wars, the First World War, the Gallipoli Campaign, and the Korean War.

Areas of Expertise: Political History, History of Warfare, Military History, Gallipoli Campaign

Prof.Dr. Sertan AKBABA

Prof. Dr. Sertan Akbaba was born in Australia in 1980. He graduated from the Department of German Language and Literature at Sakarya University in 2005. In 2007, he completed his master’s degree in EU Politics and International Relations at Marmara University with a thesis entitled “Role of Education and Cultural Policies in the Social Construction of the European Union.” In 2013, he completed his Ph.D. in EU Politics and International Relations at Marmara University with a dissertation entitled “Post-National Dimension in the European Union and Euroscepticism: The Case of Eurosceptic Party Groups in the European Parliament.”

Between 2014 and 2022, he worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Kırşehir Ahi Evran University. He was awarded the title of Associate Professor in 2020. In 2022, he joined the Department of International Relations at Yozgat Bozok University. His academic research focuses particularly on identity politics, ethnicity, and nationalism. He was awarded the title of Professor in 2026.

Areas of Expertise: European Studies, Identity Politics, Ethnicity, Nationalism

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa ÖZALP

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Özalp was born on December 25, 1983, in Uzakçay, Akdağmadeni, Yozgat. He completed his primary education in his home village and his secondary and high school education in Ankara. At the end of 2004, he moved to Austria to pursue higher education.

Between 2005 and 2011, he completed his undergraduate and master’s studies at the Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Vienna. Between 2011 and 2015, he completed his doctoral studies in International Development at the Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna.

In June 2016, he was appointed as a faculty member in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yozgat Bozok University. From 2016 to 2019, he concurrently served as Director of Yozgat Bozok University Akdağmadeni Vocational School. Between 2019 and 2020, he served as the Yozgat Provincial Coordinator for the examinations of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Open and Distance Education (AUZEF). Since the beginning of 2020, he has continued to serve as Deputy Provincial Coordinator for AUZEF in Yozgat. He is married and has one daughter.

Areas of Expertise: Eastern Mediterranean, Energy Policies, Energy Security, Türkiye–EU Relations, Migration

Assoc. Prof. Dr. İskender KARAKAYA

Assoc. Prof. Dr. İskender Karakaya was born in İzmit in 1984. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Kocaeli University with degrees in International Relations (2007) and Political Science and Public Administration (Double Major Program, 2007).

He completed his master’s degree in the Department of International Relations at Ankara University’s Institute of Social Sciences in 2010 with a thesis entitled “Changing U.S. Security Perceptions and Policies after September 11,” supervised by Prof. Dr. Çağrı Erhan. During the 2008–2009 academic year, he studied at Charles University in Prague, Czechia, through the Erasmus Student Exchange Programme as a graduate student. From June to September 2009, he also undertook an Erasmus traineeship at the Institute of International Relations in Czechia.

He began his doctoral studies in the Department of International Relations at Ankara University’s Institute of Social Sciences in 2010. During his doctoral studies, he conducted research for his dissertation at the University of Oxford (2015–2016) and the University of York (2016). In 2017, he completed his Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled “The Transformation of Global Terrorism: From Al-Qaeda to ISIS.”

Between 2009 and 2010, he worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University. From 2010 to 2011, he served as a Research Assistant in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yalova University. Between April 2012 and February 2018, he continued his academic career as a Research Assistant under the Faculty Development Programme (ÖYP) in the Department of International Relations at Ankara University’s Institute of Social Sciences.

Since April 2018, he has continued his academic career in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yozgat Bozok University, initially as an Assistant Professor. He was awarded the title of Associate Professor in October 2024.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. İskender Karakaya teaches courses including International Politics, International Relations Theories, Regional Politics: Middle East, International Security, U.S. Foreign Policy, International Terrorism, Foreign Policy Analysis, and Current Issues in International Relations.

Areas of Expertise: Terrorism, Middle Eastern Studies, Iraq and Syria, Salafism, Afghanistan, U.S. Foreign Policy, War Studies

 Assistant Prof. Dr. Andaç KARABULUT

Asst. Prof. Dr. Andaç Karabulut was born in İskenderun in 1987. He completed his undergraduate education in Public Administration at Anadolu University. He received his master’s degree from the Department of International Relations at Istanbul Beykent University with a thesis entitled “Illegal Financing Sources of Terrorist Organizations and the Case of the PKK: A Field Study in Northern Iraq.”

He completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Istanbul Gelişim University with a dissertation entitled “Nuclear Armament in the Context of Power: The Cases of Kazakhstan and North Korea (A Field Study in Kazakhstan).”

Following field research conducted in countries across the Middle East and Central Asia, he has published academic studies in both Turkish and English in national and international publications. His research continues to focus on terrorism, intelligence, and national and international security.

In 2022, he joined the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yozgat Bozok University, as an Assistant Professor.

Areas of Expertise: Intelligence, Terror, Terrorism, National and International Security, National Power, Military Developments

Dr. Samet İşbilen completed his master’s degree in Political Science and Public Administration at Istanbul Arel University following his undergraduate studies. He earned his Ph.D. from the Political Science and International Relations Program at the Graduate School of Education, Training and Research at Cappadocia University. In his doctoral dissertation, he examined the transformative effects of the Russia–Ukraine War on the European Union’s security policies.

His academic research focuses on international security, European security and defence, the European Union, NATO, the Russia–Ukraine War, and geopolitical and geoeconomic transformations. In particular, his research addresses the transformation of the European security architecture, EU security and defence policies, European defence governance, NATO’s evolving threat perceptions, and contemporary security challenges. He has national and international academic publications in these fields.

Continuing his academic career at Yozgat Bozok University, İşbilen joined the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences in 2026.

Areas of Expertise: International Security, European Security and Defence, European Union, NATO, Russia–Ukraine War, Geopolitics, and Geoeconomics.

Araştırma Görevlisi Ranuna İklime GÜN

Res. Asst. Ranuna İklime Gün was born in Istanbul on December 14, 1993. She graduated from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Marmara University, in 2017.

During the 2015–2016 academic year, she studied at Stockholm University through the Erasmus Student Exchange Programme as an undergraduate student. In August 2016, she completed an internship at the Embassy of the Republic of Türkiye in The Hague, the Netherlands. In October 2016, she participated in the Erasmus+ project entitled “Refugee Story” in Greece. In June 2017, she participated in the IstKon Turkish-German Academic and Cultural Summit exchange programme in Germany.

In 2018, she began her master’s degree in International Relations within the Department of International and Regional Studies at the Turkish National Defence University. She completed her master’s degree in 2021 after successfully defending her thesis entitled “The Formation of Terrorist Organizations in the Context of Failed States: The Case of Somalia.”

Since September 2022, she has been pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of International Relations at the Institute of Social Sciences, Galatasaray University.

Since November 2020, she has continued her academic career as a Research Assistant in the Department of International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Yozgat Bozok University.

Areas of Expertise: Sub-Saharan Africa, Terrorism, Peace Studies, International Migration