Ozgur Kayaalp (Middle East Expert)

Ozgur Kayaalp is a Ph.D. candidate at the Security Studies Ph.D. program at the University of Central Florida. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Maritime security, safety, and environmental management degree from Dokuz Eylul University in Turkey. Before starting his Ph.D., he worked as a warrant officer in the Turkish Navy and NATO for twenty years. He participated in national, UN, and NATO operations, exercises, international courses, and training.
 

Ozgur is broadly interested in international relations and global environmental politics. In his studies, he adopts statistical methods, social network analysis, qualitative/ quantitative content analysis, critical discourse analysis as methodological approaches, his regional focus is widely on the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Eurasia. His current doctoral research focuses on three aspects of international cooperation. The first research investigates the correlates of regional cooperation and institutional building with multiple dyadic factors. Second research deals with rationalist and reflectivist accounts of regional cooperation. Finally, the third work builds upon the absence of regional cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean, domestic factors, and populist leaders of the region.