Alumni and Friends of the LSE
in the United States

Dear Reader,

You are cordially invited to a talk on Politics of EU-Turkey Deal and Refugee Crisis.

Tuesday February 21st, 2017 from 6:30 until 8:30pm

Location: India House - 8888 West Bellfort Avenue, Houston, TX 77031 (MAP)

RSVP required for roster.

Abstract
Understanding historical migration patterns and displacement of people in world politics has arguably never been more relevant than at present, given the increasing challenges from Syrian refugees and asylum seekers to the European Union (EU) member states and their external borders. This talk will critically engage with the rationality and politics of the deal between the EU and Turkey on refugee crisis. I will first explore the extent to which the politics of the EU has lead to a form of activity aiming to control migration from the Middle East to Europe and conduct relations concerned with the exercise of EU power. This talk will particularly question whether or not the EU’s ‘moral high ground’ was compromised for the politics of controlling the refugee crisis through the mediation of Turkey; and to what extent at the expense of key values such as ‘democracy, freedom and rule of law’ in order to protect the EU’s external borders.

Biography
Dr Ayla Göl is a Reader (Associate Professor) in the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University since 2005, having started her academic career at the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science in 2003, where she was awarded her PhD (2000). She was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge in (2009-10). She was also the inaugural John Vincent Visiting Fellow at the Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University (2002-03). Dr Göl is a holder of multiple teaching awards, including the BISA-C-SAP Prize for Excellence in Teaching International Relations (2011) and winner of the Student-led Teaching Award for the Outstanding Teacher of 2015. She was the Director of Graduate School in the Department of International Politics between 2015 and 2017. Dr Göl is the author of Turkey Facing East: Islam, Modernity and Foreign Policy (Manchester University Press, 2013) and numerous articles as well as book chapters on Turkish nationalism and foreign policy in the Middle East.