law & diplomacy - Current @BilkentIRDept, former @MFATurkiye // Columnist @TurkeyinDepth // IG: @evliyacan & @counterdictionary // RT ≠ endorsement
Joined September 2021
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My new piece @TurkeyinDepth
Jun 13
Turkey hosted Russia-Ukraine talks in the early months of the war. The NATO summit comes to Ankara in weeks. @shehbender argues Turkey's role isn't neutrality — it's keeping the room open. 🇹🇷🇺🇦🇷🇺 A stadium and a summit have more in common than either side admits.
The full story is in Turkey in Depth: t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 13
A must read!
Jun 12
A stadium cannot deliver peace. Neither can a summit. But both can preserve the possibility of encounter. As Ankara prepares to host NATO, Can Öztaş asks what happens when ordinary people share a space before politicians do. @shehbender t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 13
Max Korzh is not a protest singer. He sings about home, friendship and escape. That's exactly what made his Istanbul concert politically inconvenient. 🇹🇷🇧🇾 @shehbender on why messy, emotional togetherness irritates power more than a polished anthem ever could.
We cover what others miss: t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 13
On the same day Istanbul hosted tens of thousands of young people from across the war's dividing lines, Trump circulated an AI-generated video of the world singing his name. 🇹🇷🇺🇸 @shehbender on what the contrast reveals about power and music.
This is what Turkey in Depth is for: t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 12
A stadium cannot deliver peace. Neither can a summit. But both can preserve the possibility of encounter. As Ankara prepares to host NATO, Can Öztaş asks what happens when ordinary people share a space before politicians do. @shehbender t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 12
The old authoritarian dream has a soundtrack: one rhythm, one crowd, one name. But Istanbul offered a different chorus — contradictory, imperfect and stubbornly human. @shehbender on music, war and diplomacy before the NATO summit. 👉 t.ly/cFbk9
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Jun 12
War redraws borders. Music sometimes ignores them. @shehbender reflects on a Belarusian pop concert in Istanbul, AI-generated fantasies of obedience and why Ankara should remember that diplomacy begins with encounter. Read more: t.ly/cFbk9
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My latest for Turkey in Depth: The Economy of Reassurance
On hair transplants, drones, construction, and what Türkiye’s recent economic success stories reveal about anxiety, masculinity, spectacle and the less visible foundations of prosperity. @TurkeyinDepth
Jun 7
What do hair transplants, drones and concrete have in common?
In a thought-provoking Sunday column, @shehbender argues that Turkey has become remarkably good at exporting reassurance—but asks whether reassurance is the same thing as lasting strength.
turkeyindepth.com/article/96…
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Jun 6
🔹 Hair transplants. Drones. Mega-projects.
What do Turkey's most successful industries have in common?
Can Öztaş (@shehbender) argues they all sell reassurance — to anxious individuals, anxious states and anxious investors.
→ t.ly/cFbk9
#Turkey #Economy
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Jun 5
🔹 Turkey knows how to build airports, manufacture drones and attract medical tourists. The harder question is whether it can invest with the same determination in trust, education and institutions.
@shehbender
The bigger picture is in Turkey in Depth:
t.ly/cFbk9
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May 24
The brochure stops at the city limits. @shehbender doesn't. Part II of his Ankara series heads into the valleys, ruins and silences the tourist map leaves blank. 👉 turkeyindepth.com/article/94…
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May 22
“Ankara is not grey. It is layered.”
In the second part of his series, @shehbender explores the Ankara that rarely appears in official narratives:
🔹 Armenian settlements
🔹 Byzantine traces
🔹 Phrygian ruins
🔹 forgotten valleys and monasteries
A different map of the capital.
Read more in Turkey in Depth:
t.ly/cFbk9
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May 19
Milli Mücadele’nin 107. yılında, 19 Mayıs Atatürk’ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramımız kutlu olsun. 🇹🇷
#bilkent #bilkentüniversitesi
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May 19
i always envied the diplo-brats, enjoyed the appointees, reviled the wardens, and hugged the idealists
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International law is not neutral speech, it is a political discourse.
It polices who may speak, what can be said and which futures can be imagined.
Whose voices are excluded and what remains unspeakable?
Curious? Please follow instagram.com/counterdiction…
#CounterDictionary #TWAIL
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May 18
started out as a turbo-thruster until i hit cruising altitude, then enjoyed some delightful years as a nomad and a brief stint as a wonk before exiting pre-bruise. you?
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May 18
Monday reading from Turkey in Depth:
🔹 The hidden Ankara NATO guests rarely see — by @shehbender
🔹 Why delays in disarmament could derail the DEM Party’s transformation — by @nergisdemirkaya
🔹 CHP mayors: some in jail, some joining the AKP
A snapshot of Turkey’s political, diplomatic and cultural fault lines.
More at:
turkeyindepth.com
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Ankara’s charm is real. It is private, reveals itself slowly, and almost always just outside the official frame. My piece this week 👇
May 17
Ahead of the NATO summit, Ankara will showcase its role as a strategic capital. But beyond the official venues lies another Ankara — one of Roman ruins, forgotten churches, Ottoman guild mosques and republican symbolism.
In this week’s The Third Desk, @shehbender explores the Ankara most diplomatic brochures leave out.
Read: turkeyindepth.com/article/93…
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May 15
Three faiths. Four building phases. One small square in the heart of Ankara. Augustus Temple, a Byzantine church, a Hacı Bayram Mosque — all layered into each other. @shehbender traces what the city half-remembers and half-erases. Go where others don't → t.ly/cFbk9
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May 15
Ankara is not a grey city. It just performs seriousness for a living.
@shehbender on what the official brochure leaves out — and why that absence is the most honest thing a city can show its visitors.
The context others skip — at Turkey in Depth: t.ly/cFbk9
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