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Seta &#38; Sasakawa Peace Foundation invite you to the following conferenceTurkish-Japanese Perspectives on Energy, Security and Development in the Middle East and Africa18 March 2014     /     14.00-16.30 pmSeta Foundation, AnkaraConference Program14.00-14.10   Welcoming RemarksTaha Özhan (General Coordinator, Seta Foundation)1st SessionChair: Ufuk Ulutaş (Seta Foundation)14.10-14.25Japanese Foreign Policy Perspectives on the Middle East and North AfricaAkira Matsunaga (Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Tokyo)14.25-14.40Cross-Regional Cooperation Among Regional Powers in Global Geopolitics: Turkish-Japanese Cooperation in the Middle EastKılıç Buğra Kanat (Penn State University, Erie &#38; Seta DC)14.40-14.55Rising Powers as Rising Donors: Turkey’s Policy towards AfricaMehmet Özkan (Seta Foundation)14.55-15.15 Q&#38;A15.15-15.30Coffee/Tea Break2nd SessionChair: Talip Küçükcan (Insight Turkey)15.30-15.45 A Japanese Perspective on Iran’s Nuclear Problem and Energy Security Nobumasa Akiyama (Hitotsubashi University, Japan)15.45-16.00Turkey’s Energy Policies, Energy Security and Nonproliferation Regimes in Regional Energy EquationsErdal Tanas (Yıldırım Beyazıt University) and Ayşe Zeynep Nayır (Seta Foundation)16.00-16.20 Q&#38;A CONTRIBUTORSNobumasa AkiyamaNobumasa Akiyama is Professor at the Graduate School of Law and the Graduate School of International and Public Policy at Hitotsubashi University, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at Japan Institute of International Affairs.  His served in consultative and study groups at Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, the Japan Atomic Energy Commission, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of Japan, and advisor to the Japanese delegation to the NPT Review Conferences. Professor Akiyama has published extensively and presented papers at various conferences on non-proliferation, Japan’s national security and nuclear energy. He also worked on review of the Fukushima nuclear accident as a leader of the working group for the Independent Commission on the Investigation of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident, initiated by a private think-tank, Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation. Recent publication includes Akiyama Nobumasa, and Kenta HORIO, “Can Japan Remain Committed to Nonproliferation?” The Washington Quarterly, Vol.36, No.2, 2013, pp.151-165, Akiyama Nobumasa, “The Compliance Structure of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime and Japan’s Non-Proliferation Policy Assets,” Hitotsubashi Journal of Law and Politics, VOl.41, 2013, pp.11-23.Kılıç Buğra KanatKilic Bugra Kanat is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Penn State University, Erie and a Research Fellow at the SETA Foundation at Washington, D.C. He received his doctoral degree in Political Science from Syracuse University. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Syracuse University and a master’s in International Affairs from Marquette University. He completed his undergraduate education in the International Relations Department of the Middle East Technical University. Dr. Kanat also holds a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Middle Eastern Affairs and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Conflict Resolution. His research interests include foreign policy decision-making, foreign policy change, and domestic politics and foreign policy interaction. Dr. Kanat’s writings have appeared in Foreign Policy, Insight Turkey, Middle East Policy, Arab Studies Quarterly, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.Erdal Tanas KaragölErdal Karagöl is a professor at Yıldırım Beyazıt University. He completed his BSc in Economics in Istanbul University. He received his M.A degree from Connecticut University and his PhD. on foreign debt and economic growth relation and the risk of postponing foreign debts from York University. He has published on the areas of Turkish economy, economic growth and development, energy, defense economy, foreign debts, debt crisis, IMF Stand-by Agreements, public expenditures, social benefits and poverty in various national and international journals, books and reports.Akira MatsunagaAkira Matsunaga is teh Deputy Director of the The Sasakawa Middle East Islam Fund at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. He was born in 1960. He graduated from the Faculty of Letters and received a Phd in literature from the Keio University. Dr. Matsunaga is a visiting a professor at the Taffacur University. His research focuses on the history of interaction between Japan and the Middle East as well as Turkish ethnic history. He is a contriburing author to Modern Japan and the Turkish World (Keiso Shobo) and Sino-Japanese War and Islam (Keio University Press); and the author of Tatars Living in Japan (Tokyo Shoten).Ayşe Zeynep NayırAyşe Zeynep Nayır completed her BSc in Mathematics and Economics in a joint program between London School of Economics and Istanbul Bilgi University in 2009. After graduation, she awarded the International Student Scholarship from the University of Birmingham for her first master’s program at the University of Birmingham. Afterwards, she worked as teaching assistant for one year at the University of Birmingham. She completed her second master’s degree in Economics Reference to the Middle East with full scholarship at School of Oriental and African Studies and will start her PhD at the same university in September 2014. Now, she is working as research assistant at SETA Foundation, where she mainly focuses on energy issues.Taha ÖzhanTaha Özhan completed his BA in the New York Institute of Technology, and received his MA from the New School for Social Research in New York where he continued his PhD studies on political economy. Ozhan taught at Columbia University and State University of New York. He has publications in the fields of political economy and international relations, and authored the book titled "Iraq Under Occupation". He is the author of several research reports, academic papers, book chapters and frequent speaker in international conferences. He is also in advisory board of Insight Turkey and Ruiyya Turkiyya (Arabic) academic journals. He regularly contributes to SETA Analysis, SETA Policy Brief and Insight Turkey. His columns appear in several Turkish national daily newspapers.Mehmet ÖzkanMehmet Özkan is a Foreign Policy Researcher at SETA. After graduating from International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science at Istanbul University (Turkey), he studied in South Africa (University of Johannesburg) and Sweden (Linkoping University) where he obtained master’s degree. He completed his PhD in Politics and International Studies at Sevilla University (Spain) in 2013 and currently works as a Researcher at SETA. He was a Visiting Student at UPB-Medellin in Colombia in 2009; a Visiting Fellow at Institute for Defense and Security Analysis (IDSA), New Delhi, India in 2010; and Visiting Researcher at Cairo University in Egypt in 2011. He was also a lecturer at International University of Sarajevo (Bosnia &#38; Herzegovina) in 2012. He is the author of Foreign Policy After Tahrir Revolution (2011)Ufuk UlutasUfuk Ulutas is the Director of the Foreign Policy Studies at SETA Foundation. He received his BA in Political Science from Bilkent University, his MA in Middle Eastern History at the Ohio State University, and he is currently a PhD candidate at OSU. He studied Hebrew and Middle Eastern politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and lectured at OSU between 2004 and 2009. He worked as a research assistant at Mershon Center for International Security Studies. He served as Samuel M. Melton and George M. &#38; Renée K. Levine fellow at Melton Center for Jewish Studies. Ulutas also worked as the Middle East Program coordinator at SETA Washington DC. He authored many academic and policy-oriented articles and reports on Middle Eastern history and politics, Israel and Jewish history, Turkish foreign policy and US policy in the Middle East. He is a columnist at Akşam Daily and currently hosting a foreign policy centered TV program at TRT Türk channel. He also serves at the executive board of a Somali-based think-tank, Heritage Institute for Policy Studies.Conference CoordinatorTalip Kucukcan, Editor-in Chief, Insight Turkey