In collaboration with the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University.
Date and Time: April 14, 2026, 12:30
Venue: A130 Seminar Room,
FEASS Speakers: Ersel Aydınlı (Moderator), Namık Tan, Murat Mercan
The talk will be held in Turkish.
Biographies:
Namık Tan
Amb. Tan joined the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1982 and has held posts in Ankara, Moscow, and Abu Dhabi. He was later assigned to the Turkish Embassy in Washington, where he served as Counselor from 1991 to 1995 and First Counselor from 1997 to 2001. Between these assignments, Tan served as Chief of Cabinet to the Turkish Foreign Minister. Upon his return to Türkiye in 2001, he was appointed as Head of the Department for the Americas and was subsequently named Head of the Information Department in 2002. Ambassador Tan served as the Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2007. Later, he was Ambassador of Türkiye to Israel between 2007-2009 and Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for Bilateral Political Affairs and Public Diplomacy. He served as Türkiye’s ambassador to the United States between 2010 and 2014. He is currently Vice President of CHP (Republican People’s Party) in charge of foreign policy and foreign relations.
Murat Mercan
Amb. Mercan graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of Boğaziçi University in 1981. He completed his Ph.D in 1989 at the University of Florida. He then worked as an Assistant/Associate Professor at the Department of Quantitative Business Analysis of Cleveland State University and at the Department of Management of Bilkent University. Ambassador Mercan is a Founding Member of AK Parti (the Justice and Development Party). From 2002 to 2007, he was Chairman of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Interparliamentary European Defense and Security Assembly, and the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He served as the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Turkish Grand National Assembly during the 23rd term of the Parliament (2007-2011), and as Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Türkiye (2012-2014). He was Türkiye’s ambassador to the United States between 2021 and 2024. He currently teaches at İbn Haldun University.
