Can Öztaş, LL.M., Ph.D.

law & diplomacy - Current @BilkentIRDept, former @MFATurkiye // Columnist @TurkeyinDepth // IG: @evliyacan & @counterdictionary // RT ≠ endorsement

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

🔹 Turkey knows how to build airports, manufacture drones and attract medical tourists. The harder question is whether it can invest with the same determination in trust, education and institutions.
@shehbender
The bigger picture is in Turkey in Depth:
https://t.co/CEjlcdPcfV

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

The brochure stops at the city limits. @shehbender doesn't. Part II of his Ankara series heads into the valleys, ruins and silences the tourist map leaves blank. 👉 https://t.co/CTzd8X9Gvy

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

“Ankara is not grey. It is layered.”
In the second part of his series, @shehbender explores the Ankara that rarely appears in official narratives:
🔹 Armenian settlements
🔹 Byzantine traces
🔹 Phrygian ruins
🔹 forgotten valleys and monasteries
A different map of the capital.
Read more in Turkey in Depth:
https://t.co/A6uZ7kogCf

[Bilkent Üniversitesi @BilkentUniv]

Milli Mücadele’nin 107. yılında, 19 Mayıs Atatürk’ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramımız kutlu olsun. 🇹🇷

#bilkent #bilkentüniversitesi

[Jeremy Dicker 🌏 @Dicker_JJ]

i always envied the diplo-brats, enjoyed the appointees, reviled the wardens, and hugged the idealists

[Can Öztaş, LL.M., Ph.D. @shehbender]

International law is not neutral speech, it is a political discourse.
It polices who may speak, what can be said and which futures can be imagined.
Whose voices are excluded and what remains unspeakable?

Curious? Please follow https://t.co/2f1mKCUvzU

#CounterDictionary #TWAIL

[Jeremy Dicker 🌏 @Dicker_JJ]

started out as a turbo-thruster until i hit cruising altitude, then enjoyed some delightful years as a nomad and a brief stint as a wonk before exiting pre-bruise. you?

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Monday reading from Turkey in Depth:
🔹 The hidden Ankara NATO guests rarely see — by @shehbender
🔹 Why delays in disarmament could derail the DEM Party’s transformation — by @nergisdemirkaya
🔹 CHP mayors: some in jail, some joining the AKP
A snapshot of Turkey’s political, diplomatic and cultural fault lines.
More at:
https://t.co/PvO6tMgHEH

[Can Öztaş, LL.M., Ph.D. @shehbender]

Ankara’s charm is real. It is private, reveals itself slowly, and almost always just outside the official frame. My piece this week 👇

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Ahead of the NATO summit, Ankara will showcase its role as a strategic capital. But beyond the official venues lies another Ankara — one of Roman ruins, forgotten churches, Ottoman guild mosques and republican symbolism.
In this week’s The Third Desk, @shehbender explores the Ankara most diplomatic brochures leave out.
Read: https://t.co/KoCNJg8vkZ

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Three faiths. Four building phases. One small square in the heart of Ankara. Augustus Temple, a Byzantine church, a Hacı Bayram Mosque — all layered into each other. @shehbender traces what the city half-remembers and half-erases. Go where others don't → https://t.co/CEjlcdPK5t

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Ankara is not a grey city. It just performs seriousness for a living.
@shehbender on what the official brochure leaves out — and why that absence is the most honest thing a city can show its visitors.
The context others skip — at Turkey in Depth: https://t.co/CEjlcdPK5t

[Can Öztaş, LL.M., Ph.D. @shehbender]

"Good relations do not require historical amnesia. They require enough political maturity to live with memory rather than inside it." See my new piece @TurkeyinDepth

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Turkey and Armenia have direct flights again. The land border is still closed. @shehbender: "A closed border is not only a diplomatic position. It is an economic punishment imposed on the periphery." For those who follow Turkey closely → https://t.co/CEjlcdPcfV

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Starting the week with Turkey in Depth.
📌 @barcinyinanc on why Turkey is climbing the MIPEX rankings while parts of Europe retreat on migration integration
📌 @shehbender on why Turkey-Armenia normalization needs more than symbolic gestures
📌 And the story behind Aziz Yıldırım’s possible comeback to the “Fenerbahçe Republic”
Go deeper 👉 https://t.co/PvO6tMg9P9

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

📚 Columns open for Sunday reading at @TurkeyinDepth
🌍 @barcinyinanc asks why Turkey is improving on migration integration while Europe loses ground
🇦🇲 @shehbender argues normalization with Armenia cannot succeed without opening borders
⚽ And this week’s portrait revisits Aziz Yıldırım’s enduring influence over Turkish football and politics
Weekend reading 👉 https://t.co/PvO6tMg9P9

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

For more than 30 years, Turkey and Armenia have lived side by side without full diplomatic relations.

Can peace survive elections, mistrust, diaspora pressure and regional rivalries?

@shehbender on why the border itself remains the real test of normalization.

https://t.co/RNcRIYVew7

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Sundays deserve Sunday reads.
Even if you missed this week’s Turkey in Depth, our columns are now open:

@barcinyinanc on Turkey’s progress in MIPEX as Europe stagnates on integration

@shehbender on why Turkey-Armenia normalization needs open borders

And Aziz Yıldırım’s possible return to the “Fenerbahçe Republic”

https://t.co/PvO6tMg9P9

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Turkey and Armenia have direct flights again. The land border is still closed. @shehbender: "A closed border is not only a diplomatic position. It is an economic punishment imposed on the periphery." For those who follow Turkey closely → https://t.co/CEjlcdPcfV

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Flights resumed between Turkey and Armenia. But airports do not replace borders. A land border is where normalization becomes visible to ordinary people — traders, students, families. A closed border, @shehbender writes, is an economic punishment imposed on the periphery. Request trial subscription: https://t.co/A6uZ7kogCf

[TurkeyinDepth @TurkeyinDepth]

Retired Turkish ambassadors endorsing Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is striking enough.
But @shehbender raises the harder question: what does normalization actually require? Flights resumed. A bridge deal signed. The land border is still closed.
"Airports do not replace borders." Read it here → https://t.co/A6uZ7knIMH

[Can Öztaş, LL.M., Ph.D. @shehbender]

Today, with my students @BilkentIRDept we visited the Directorate of Communications. @iletisim

Grateful for their warm hospitality & the insightful presentations, which offered a valuable opportunity to engage with the practice of strategic communication & public diplomacy.