Events

The DS Centre for Policy Studies is holding a panel discussion entitled “Breaking the Gateway of Foreign Fighters: Fostering Cooperation Between Kosovo and Turkey” in cooperation with SETA and the Kosovar Center for Security Studies. The panel, open to the public, will be held on February 29, 2016 at the SIRIUS Hotel in Kosovo. 

The panel will discuss the challenges faced by Kosovo and Turkey in addressing violent extremism and radicalism as well as the attempts made to find the best practices to counter and prevent this phenomenon. The panelists will include security experts and academics from Kosovo and Turkey who will discuss how the Balkans and the Middle East are handling the increase in violent extremism and terrorism. In addition, the panelists will discuss how this trend has created, and continues to create, certain regional security problems.  

The panel will be moderated by Florian Qehaj.  The panelists will include: Burim Ramadani, Bilgehan Öztürk, Sibel Halimi and Yusuf Selman İnanç. Please find their biographies below.

Please note that the panel discussion will be conducted in English.

Panelists' Bios:

Florian Qehaja is the Executive Director, and one of the co-founders, of the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) . He served previously as Head of Operations (2008-2011) and has been an assistant lecturer at various universities in Kosovo. Florian is the author of several scientific publications in the field of security studies as well as the author/co-author of local, international publications regarding the field of security studies, rule of law and regional cooperation. Furthermore, he is an international consultant on security sector reform, rule of law and good governance cooperating with leading international governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Burim Ramadani is one of Kosovo's leading security experts. He was a Member of Parliament from 2011 to 2014 and a member of the Parliamentary Committee for the Supervision of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA). Mr. Ramadani is a regular columnist for newspapers in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia, and often contributes to various regional media outlets. His op-eds focus mainly on security issues. In addition, he has also taken part as a speaker in various conferences and roundtables on security, including discussions on overseeing the security and intelligence sector. 

Bilgehan Öztürk was awarded the Jean Monnet Scholarship by the Council of Europe in 2011 and completed his masters degree with distinction at King’s College London in the Department of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies. He was awarded the title of  “Associate of King’s College (AKC)” granted by King’s College London for his special degree on religion and philosophy. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the Middle East Technical University, in the Department of International Relations. His research interests include: border security,  the Syrian civil war, armed non-state actors, radical groups and radicalization. 

Yusuf Selman İnanç studied Political Science at Istanbul University. After graduation, he did his masters at SOAS, University of London. He studied Middle East politics, specializing in Islamist movements in Egypt. Since the establishment of the Daily Sabah newspaper in 2013, he has served as the foreign news editor, focusing on the developments in the region and in particular keeping a close eye on the radical movements across the region.  

Sibel Halimi is currently a lecturer on the subject of "gender studies” in the Department of Philosophy at Kosovo University and assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy Kosovo University. She is also an expert on gender issues and an officer at the Training and Resource Center - ATRC program for "Commitment to equality - E4E". As a sociologist she consistently publishes articles that deal with the problems of gender issues in Kosovar society.

Partner Institutions:

SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research is a non-profit research institute dedicated to innovative studies on national, regional, and international issues. The objective of SETA is to produce up-to-date and accurate knowledge and analyses in the fields of politics, economy and society and inform policy makers and the public on changing political, economic, social and cultural conditions. SETA evaluates national and international issues in an historical and cultural context.

Kosovar Centre for Security Studies is a non-governmental and non-profit organization established on 17 April 2008. KCSS is established with the main aim to develop research studies in the security sector. Also, KCSS through its activities aims to organize professional conferences and seminars in the field of security policy, rule of law, justice, and provides training for certain groups in monitoring the security sector and justice. Given the lack of specialized institutes dealing with the field of security studies in our country, KCSS serves as an alternative option in relation to public policy in this area. The main activities KCSS conducted until now have strengthened the principles of democratic oversight of security institutions in the Republic of Kosovo.