When: Wednesday, 14 June
Where: Tapestry at Victoria Harbour, downtown at 777 Belleville Street
Time: 3 – 4:00 pm (doors open at 2:45 pm)

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. It was meant to be a year of celebration but recently Turkiye has experienced several major earthquakes that killed over 50,000 people and left millions displaced. Even before the earthquakes, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in power since 2003, had seen his popularity dip amid a cost-of-living crisis in which inflation soared as high as 85% last year. Now the country has just emerged from presidential and national elections and the direction the country will take domestically and internationally remains up-in-the-air. Along with Turkiye’s continuing and questionable stance regarding the war in Ukraine, it all makes for a very tumultuous time ahead for the country, the region and Turkiye’s relationship with the West especially.

Our speaker is Dr. Chris Kilford. He also holds a PhD in history from Queen’s University and is a Fellow with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, and a sessional professor with the Canadian Forces College and the Royal Military College of Canada where he teaches online courses focused on geopolitical issues. Chris enjoyed a 36-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces and retired from the military in September 2014. From July 2011 until July 2014, he served as the Canadian Defence Attaché to Turkiye with cross accreditation to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan. He has been back to Turkiye on numerous occasions since he retired from the military and his articles and book chapters on Turkish political issues have appeared in numerous Canadian and international publications.

To register for this event please email cakilford@gmail.com. We have room for 30 CIC members and please register no later than 12 June.