New head appointed to education board

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Çetinsaya 47, holds a degree in political science from Ankara University and is known for his commentary on foreign affairs in line with the government.

President Abdullah Gül appointed Professor Gökhan Çetinsaya as the new Higher Education Board (YÖK) chairman over the weekend, replacing former YÖK chair Professor Yusuf Ziya Özcan, whose four-year term ended Saturday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu is reported to have played a large part in Çetinsaya’s appointment. Davutoğlu is among the founders of the Science and Arts Foundation, which established the Istanbul Şehir University where Çetinsaya was rector for three years prior to his appointment. 

Çetinsaya, 47, holds a degree in political science from Ankara University and is known for his commentary on foreign affairs in line with the government. He received his doctorate degree from the University of Manchester’s Middle Eastern studies department in 1994. He has published several books and articles about the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. 

In addition to working at several Turkish universities including Istanbul Technical University and Hacettepe University, Çetinsaya has also been a guest researcher at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, the Free University of Berlin Institute for Turcology and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Çetinsaya has been awarded first place for best doctorate thesis from both the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies.