Description

Today, Turkey faces many pressing domestic and foreign policy challenges. The current security situation in Syria, for example, is not what Ankara anticipated when it threw its support behind the Syrian opposition back in 2012. More recently, a war of words with several EU members has brought Turkey’s EU aspirations to a virtual standstill. The relationship between Ankara and Washington over the latter’s support to the Syrian-Kurdish YPG has also reached a historical low point. Closer to home, the longstanding war with the Turkish-Kurdish PKK is not likely to end anytime soon and in the aftermath of the July 2016 attempted military coup a state of emergency remains in effect. During his talk, Dr. Chris Kilford will discuss these wide-ranging challenges facing Turkey and what the future may hold in store.

Speaker’s Biography

Dr. Chris Kilford: During his 36-year military career in the Canadian Armed Forces, Chris served throughout Canada, Germany, Afghanistan and Turkey in various command, instructional and staff roles.

From July 2009 until July 2010, he was posted to the Canadian Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan as the Canadian Deputy Military Attaché and then to the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey as the Canadian Defence Attaché from July 2011 until August 2014. He is also a graduate of the Advanced Military Studies Course and holds an equivalency for the year-long National Security Program. Chris retired from the Canadian Armed Forces in September 2014.

In addition to his military service, Chris completed a PhD in history at Queen’s University in 2009 with a focus on civil-military relations in the developing world in the post-colonial period. Today, he is a Fellow with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, a Research Fellow with the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, President of the Canadian International Council, Victoria Branch and a sessional professor with the Royal Military College and the Canadian Forces College teaching distance learning courses on political geography and global powers and institutions.

His articles and opinion pieces on Canadian defence and foreign policy issues plus Turkish and Middle Eastern matters have appeared in numerous Canadian and international publications and he has become a frequent commentator for CTV and other media outlets.

Registration

Registration via EventBrite

CIC Member Price – free
CIC Student Member Price – free
CIC Young Professional Member Price – free
Non-Member Price – free
Non-Member Student Price – free

Cut-off date for registration: Monday, March 5, 2018

Contact Person: Marie Lamensch – marie.lamensch@thecic.org