Dr Gokhan Bacik is an associate professor of International Relations at Ipek University. Specializing in the field of state-society relations, he got his Ph D from Middle East Technical University, Ankara. His latest publications include Hybrid Sovereignty in the Arab Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2008) as well as recent articles for Middle Eastern Studies, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Bacik is also an associate member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences. https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/contributor/gokhan-bacik/rss en Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs Religious & Ethnic Groups Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Gokhan Bacik https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2016/02/04/turkey-and-the-pyd-a-modern-feud https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2016/02/04/turkey-and-the-pyd-a-modern-feud Just like every other foreign power involved in the crisis in Syria, Turkey has its own agenda, writes Turkish academic Gokhan Bacik. But Turkey’s goals have evolved. The aim of toppling Bashar al-Assad has been replaced by a need to stop the Kurds from gaining international recognition. Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs Religious & Ethnic Groups Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000 Gokhan Bacik https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2016/01/28/turkey-and-russias-proxy-war-and-the-kurds https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2016/01/28/turkey-and-russias-proxy-war-and-the-kurds While Turkey and Russia have long been heading in opposite directions when it comes to Syria, never before have tensions been quite this high. Turkish academic Gokhan Bacik writes that Syrian Kurds are quickly becoming a key element in the growing proxy war between the two powers.