ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

Professor Yaprak  Gürsoy

Professor Yaprak Gürsoy

Professor of European Politics and Chair in Contemporary Turkish Studies

European Institute

Room No
CBG.7.04
Office Hours
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Languages
English, Turkish
Key Expertise
Comparative Politics, International Relations, Turkish Politics

About me

Yaprak Gürsoy is Professor of European Politics and Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳. Prior to joining the European Institute, she was a Senior Lecturer and the Undergraduate Programme Director of Politics and International Relations at Aston University. She was also a Senior Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford University and an Associate Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University.

Yaprak completed her PhD in foreign affairs at the University of Virginia in 2008. Since then, she has worked on regime change and consolidation, democratization, civil-military relations, coups d’état, and the influence of the European Union on domestic politics. She has published extensively on these subjects, mainly focusing on Turkey in comparison with Greece and Southern Europe. Her research and publications were recognized in 2016 by the Turkish Science Academy with a Young Scientist Award (BAGEP), given to promising academics. In 2023, she was among the recipients of the Koç University Alumni Awards in the category of Achievement in the Academia. Yaprak is the author of The Transformation of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey (Istanbul: Bilgi University Press, 2013, in Turkish) and Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey, and Beyond (University of Michigan Press, 2017).

More recently, Yaprak’s project on Turkey-UK Relations was funded by the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA). This new area of research has led her to explore Turkish perceptions of the UK and the impact of emotions on international relations and politics.

Between 2018 and 2023, Yaprak was the co-founder and co-convener of the Turkish Politics Specialist Group in the Political Studies Association (PSA). Since 2019, she has served as a council member of the British Association for Turkish Area Studies (BATAS). In 2022, she received an Excellence in Education Award by ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳.

As the Chair of Contemporary Turkish Studies at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳, she continues to teach and research her main areas of interest, Turkey’s relations with the West and the UK, and Turkish politics in comparison with Europe. 

Expertise Details

Regime Change; Democratization; Civil-Military Relations; Coups d’État; Southern Europe; Anglo-Turkish Relations

Books

Between Military Rule and Democracy: Regime Consolidation in Greece, Turkey, and Beyond (, 2017).

Türkiye'de Sivil-Asker İlişkilerinin Dönüşümü (The Transformation of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey), Güvenlik Çalışmaları Dizisi, (, 2013). 

Avrupa Birliği'ne Giriş (Introduction to the European Union), edited by Ayhan Kaya, Senem Aydın-Düzgit, Yaprak Gürsoy and Özge Onursal ( 2011; 4th edition published in 2020. 

Journal articles

"Emotions and Narratives of the Spirit of Gallipoli: Turkey’s Collective Identity and Status in International Relations," , Vol. 50, No. 4 (2023): 1039-1057. 

“Reconsidering Britain’s Soft Power: Lessons from the Perceptions of the Turkish Political Elite,” , Vol. 36, No. 1 (2023): 35-53. 

“Business as Usual? The Present and Future Impact of Brexit on Anglo-Turkish Relations,” with Görkem Altınörs, Vol. 2, No. 2 (June 2021): 25-49. 

"Moving Beyond European and Latin American Typologies: The Peculiarities of AKP’s Populism in Turkey," , Vol. 51, No. 1 (January 2021): 157-178.

“Anti-populist Coups d’État in the 21st Century: Reasons, Dynamics and Consequences,” with Toygar Sinan Baykan and Pierre Ostiguy, , : 793-81.

“Turkish Public Opinion on the Coup Allegations: Implications for Democratization,” Vol. 130, No. 1 (Spring 2015): 103-132. 

“Türkiye’de Sivil-Asker İlişkilerinin Dönüşümünün Sebepleri,” (Causes of the Transformation of Civil-Military Relations in Turkey) Vol. 11, No. 43 (Fall 2014): 157-180. 

“The Role of the EU in Changing the Role of the Military in Turkish Politics,” (with İlter Turan) Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 2014): 132-140. 

“The Changing Role of the Military in Turkish Politics: Democratization through Coup Plots?” Vol. 19, No. 4 (August 2012): 735-760.

“The Final Curtain for the Turkish Armed Forces? Civil-Military Relations in View of the 2011 Elections,” Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 2012): 191-211. 

 “The Impact of EU-Driven Reforms on the Political Autonomy of the Turkish Military,” Vol. 16, No 2 (June 2011): 293-308. 

“Democratization and Foreign Policy Reforms in Turkey: Europeanization of Turkish Politics?” Vol. 38, No. 2 (Summer 2010): 227-234. 

“Is There a Europeanization of Turkish Foreign Policy: An Addendum to the Literature on EU Candidates,” (with Meltem Müftüler-Baç) Vol. 11, No. 3 (September 2010): 405-427.  

“Regime Change in the Aegean after the Second World War: Reconsidering Foreign Influence” Vol. 27, No. 2 (October 2009): 319-347. 

“Civilian Support and Military Unity in the Outcome of Turkish and Greek Interventions,” Vol. 27, No. 1 (Summer 2009): 47-75. 

“The Effects of the Population Exchange on the Greek and Turkish Political Regimes in the 1930s” Vol. 42, No. 2 (Summer 2008): 97-128 

Selected book chapters

“The 15 July 2016 Failed Coup and the Security Sector,” Routledge Handbook on Turkish Politics, edited by Alpaslan Özerdem and Matthew Whiting (Routledge, 2019).

“Turkey,” The Handbook of European Defence Policies and Armed Forces, edited by Hugo Meijer and Marco Wyss (Oxford University Press, 2018).

“Turkey: Populism and Geography,” Shaper Nations: Strategies for a Changing World, edited by William I. Hitchcock, Melvyn P. Leffler, and Jeffrey W. Legro (Harvard University Press, 2016).

“From Tutelary Powers & Interventions to Civilian Control: An Overview of Turkish Civil-Military Relations since the 1920s,” Turkey’s Democratization Process, edited by Carmen Rodriguez, Antonio Avalos, Hakan Yılmaz and Ana I. Planet (Routledge, 2013).

“Turkey: The Counterintuitive Transition of 1983,” (with Senem Aydın-Düzgit) Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective, edited by Kathryn Stoner and Michael McFaul (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013).

Turkey’s Relations with the United States and Israel under the Justice and Development Party Government,Troubled Triangle: The United States, Turkey, and Israel in the New Middle East, edited by William B. Quandt (Just World Books, 2011).

 

Selected opinion pieces and blog posts

“The Earthquake Might Upend More Than Turkey’s Elections,” The World Today, , 31 March 2023. 

“Turkey is facing its own coronavirus crisis – so why is it sending medical supplies to the UK?,” , 22 April 2020.

“Turkish Populism as a ‘Theory-Reconstructing’ Case Study,” , 11 December 2019.

“Why would a Third Country Root for Soft Brexit? Views and Lessons from Turkey,” , 29 January 2019.

“Turkey in and out of NATO? An Instance of a Turbulent Alliance with Western Institutions,” (with İlke Toygur), , 11 June 2018.

“The Recent Crisis between Greece and Turkey: Two NATO Allies on the Brink of War, Again,” , 24 April 2018.

 

Selected reports

"Brexit: Türkiye-Birleşik Krallık-AB İlişkilerinde Siyasi ve Ekonomik Riskler ve Fırsatlar," (Brexit: Political and Economic Risks and Opportunities in Turkish-UK-EU Relations) , September 2019.

"Brexit and the UK-Turkey Relationship,” Renewing and Rethinking Bilateralism after Brexit, edited by Andrew Glencross, , July 2019.

“Turkish Elite’s Perceptions of the UK from 1973 to Brexit,” Heritage Turkey (annual publication of the British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) containing reports on supported research), Vol. 8 (2018).