This Jean Monnet seminar is supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

Over the past few years, Turkey has sent mixed signals about its commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and EU integration. Yet, Ankara’s relations with Russia have advanced significantly. Turkey and Russia have relaunched energy projects – including a natural gas project linking Russia and Turkey to South Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the EU has become increasingly dependent on Russian natural gas imports. Brussels also requires Turkey’s cooperation to enhance EU energy security. This seminar examined how the energy sector has become a battlefield between Turkey, Russia and the EU (as well as the US). It also discussed how the Turkey-Russia energy dynamic might affect Turkey’s relations with key Western allies, including NATO.

Digdem Soyaltin Colella is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science at Altınbaş University in Istanbul. At the same university, she is also holds a Jean Monnet Module dealing with good governance policies and the EU in its wider neighbourhood. Previously she has worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Stockholm University Institute of Turkish Studies (SUITS) and a consultant in projects conducted by Council of Europe and European Union on anti-corruption policies and judicial sector reforms in Turkey. She received her PhD from the Department of Political Science at Freie Universität Berlin and worked as a research fellow at the Research College on Transformative Power of Europe (KFG) during her studies. She holds a Master of Science in European Affairs from Lund University and Master of Philosophy in Political Science from Central European University in Budapest. She studied International Relations and European Politics for her bachelor’s degree in Turkey. Her main research interests are Europeanisation, domestic change, public policy and governance in Turkish politics. Her recent book Europeanisation, Corruption and Good Governance in the Public Sector: The case of Turkey (Routledge, 2017) examines the role of external actors, especially the EU, in the promotion of good governance and fighting corruption in Turkey.