GRF – ISD Regional Security Conference
February 22-23, 2016  

On February 22-23, a conference titled “The Mashriq Crisis: Containing Waves of Instability” was organized in collaboration with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) at the Divan Istanbul Hotel.

The conference began on February 22 with an opening dinner, with the participation of the ISD and GRF delegations. After the opening remarks of GRF President Memduh Karakullukçu, Sasha Havlicek, ISD CEO, and Ceren Yazgan, Deputy Director General for Security and Intelligence Affairs at the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered keynote speeches and received the participants’ questions.

On February 23, a roundtable meeting was held with three interactive panel sessions that focused on the following topics respectively:

• Geostrategic context of Syria and Iraq: Vectors of instability towards the region and Europe
• Refugees: National and collective strategies to prevent radicalization
• Foreign Fighters: A national threat in need of a cooperative response

Please click for the detailed conference program.