Suat Kınıklıoğlu

Suat Kınıklıoğlu

Suat Kınıklıoğlu (born 1 May 1965 in Duisburg, Germany) is a Turkish politician, writer and analyst. Kınıklıoğlu began his political career in 1995-1996 with the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in Ankara. Following a break in politics Kınıklıoğlu was elected as Member of Parliament representing Çankırı in the general election of 22 July 2007. During his time in Parliament Kınıklıoğlu was spokesman of the foreign affairs committee in the Turkish Parliament (2007-2011), member of the Turkey Group of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and chairman of the Turkey-USA Interparliamentary Friendship Group. In 2012 he resigned from the AKP and became a critic of his former party. In 2014 he ran the election campaign of the CHP Ankara mayoral candidate Mr. Mansur Yavas.

Education and professional career

Suat Kınıklıoğlu graduated from the Turkish Air Force Academy (Electronics) in 1986 and from Carleton University’s Political Science Department with High Honors in 1994. Kınıklıoğlu received his Master in International Relations degree in 1999 at Bilkent University, Ankara.

Mr. Kınıklıoğlu specializes in Turkish foreign policy, Turkish-Russian relations and Turkey’s strategic identity.

Mr. Kınıklıoğlu gave Turkish politics seminars at the Institute of Politics of Chicago University in 2015. He was a academic visitor at Oxford University's Middle East Center in 2018 and a senior fellow at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in 2020-21.

Kınıklıoğlu wrote as a columnist in Turkish Daily News, was editor-in-chief of the foreign policy journal Insight Turkey and wrote for Radikal Daily as a columnist. Since 2024 he writes a weekly column for Medyascope (Turkish).

In 2006 Kınıklıoğlu received the Sakıp Sabancı International Research Award. In 2013 he was invited to become a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Kınıklıoğlu is a regular contributor to the international media including the Financial Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune and the Guardian.

He comments frequently to the Turkish and international media on Turkish domestic and foreign policy issues.

Apart from his native Turkish Mr. Kınıklıoğlu speaks English, German and some Russian.

Select bibliography

• Eurasianism in Turkey, SWP Research Paper, 22 March 2022
• "Turkey's Self-Inflicted Disaster". New York Times. 19 October 2015.
• "Turkey's Hapless Opposition". Foreign Policy. 4 December 2015.
• "Turkey's Neighbourhood Policy: Reintegration into Multiple Regions". What Does Turkey Think?. 2011.
• Kiniklioglu, Suat (2011). "Turkey's Neighbourhood Policy: Reintegration into Multiple Regions". In Dimitar Bechev (ed.). What Does Turkey Think. London: European Council on Foreign Relations. pp. 63–68.
• "A Little Respect, Please". International Herald Tribune. 22 January 2010.
• "Getting Turkey right". The New York Times. 2 May 2007.
• "There are limits to patience and optimism". Financial Times. 16 December 2004.