Ayça Ergun is a Professor of Sociology at Middle East Technical University (METU). She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Government at University of Essex. Her research interests include state-society relations, democratization, nation and state building, civil society in the South Caucasus, Turkish foreign policy in the South Caucasus, regionalism and regional cooperation in the wider Black Sea region, the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations, internationalization, qualitative methodology, fieldwork and social impact assessment. Her articles appeared in Europe-Asia Studies, Nationalities Papers, Third World Quarterly, Work, Employment and Society, Journal of European Integration, Journal of International Relations, Journal of Church and State, Turkish Studies, Journal of Developing Societies, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Field Methods and Electoral Studies.

Mustafa Ayd¿n is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University, the President of the International Relations Council of Turkey, and Coordinator of Global Academy. He served as the Rector of Kadir Has University (2010-2018) and was a guest researcher at Michigan, Harvard and Athens universities, as well as at the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, the EU Institute for Security Studies and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen. Among others, he is a member of the European Leadership Network, the Greek-Turkish Forum and the European Academy of Arts and Sciences. His areas of interest include security issues related to Eurasia and the Middle East, as well as Turkish foreign and security policies.