Dimitar Bechev
Dr. Dimitar Bechev is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center. He is also a research fellow at the Center of Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the director of the European Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Dr. Bechev has published extensively, in both academic and policy format, on EU foreign relations, the politics of Turkey and the Balkans, Russian foreign policy, and energy security. His book Rival Power, published by Yale University Press in 2017, explores Russia’s role in Southeast Europe (Balkans, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey). He has held research and teaching positions at Oxford and Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo as well as visiting fellowships at Harvard and the London School of Economics. From 2010 to 2014, he was the head of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) office in Sofia. Dr. Bechev is a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera Online, Oxford Analytica, POLITICO, and EUObserver. His quotes have appeared in leading newspapers such as the Financial Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. He holds a DPhil in international relations from the University of Oxford.
Think Club
4th Week of March: Millions on the Streets
The Weekly Turkey Report: 4th Week of March.
The arrest of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor and Republican People's Party’s (CHP) official presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu has...
Democracy
The Significance of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s Arrest
The detention of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19, 2025, amid terrorism and corruption investigations marks a new stage in President...
Weekly
3rd Week of March: Political “Fracture”
The Weekly Turkey Report: 3rd Week of March.
Turkey has just experienced a pivotal and tumultuous week, marking a clear fracture in the AKP-MHP regime....
Environment
Homo plasticus? The silent infiltration of microplastics into our bodies
The global plastic waste crisis is one of the most dangerous anthropogenic environmental issues of our era. Plastic pollution has been found everywhere, from...
Weekly
The Weekly Turkey Report: 2nd Week of March
False Peace and an Increasingly Repressive Regime
Turkey's agenda remains constant yet tense. This week’s key topics included the PKK’s disarmament, Erdoğan’s meeting with DEM...
Peace
The Implications of the New PKK Peace Process
The first thing I will say is, “What peace process”? Maybe I am wrong. Indeed, I hope I am, but this so-called PKK peace...
Middle East
A Social Contract for Syria
With the end of the Baath regime, Syria has entered a totally new era. However, stability has yet to be achieved among the country’s...
Weekly
The Weekly Turkey Report: 1st Week of March
Is the Kurdish Movement Integrating into the Regime?
Turkey has plunged into a deep debate following PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s call from İmralı. The key...
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