Debatten - ESI

- European Stability Initiative (ESI) -

ESI is a research and policy institute, created in recognition of the need for independent, in-depth analysis of the complex issues involved in promoting stability and prosperity in Europe. ESI was founded in June 1999 by a multi-national group of practitioners and analysts with extensive experience in the regions it studied.

Since 2007 ESI has also been working on the Southern Caucasus (Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia).

Gerald Knaus is ESI founding Chairman. He studied in Oxford, Brussels and Bologna. He taught economics at the State University of Chernivtsi in Ukraine and worked for five years in Bulgaria and Bosnia for NGOs and international organizations. He was director of the Lessons Learned Unit of the EU Pillar of the UN Mission in Kosovo (from 2001 to 2004). He co-authored more than 60 ESI reports as well as many scripts for TV documentaries on South East Europe (www.returntoeurope.eu). Gerald Knaus has been based in Istanbul since 2004. He is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and associate fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School where he also spent one year as a visiting fellow lecturing on state building and intervention.

Gerald Knaus writes a blog, the Rumeli Observer. On 20 July 2009 he and Piotr Zalewski wrote on Turkey-Armenia relations: "Red herrings in Turkish-Armenian Debate"

E-mail: g.knaus@esiweb.org

Diba Nigar Goksel, who has been working with ESI since 2004, has headed much of ESI’s Caucasus research. Nigar writes regularly on Turkey-Armenia related issues.

Some of her recent publications include:

“Turks and Armenian Walking the Reconciliation Tightrope”, GMF On Turkey Series, October 2010
“The Rubik’s Cube of Turkey - Armenia Relations,” UNISCI Discussion Papers – Special Edition on Turkey (No 23, May 2010)
“A Brave New World for Turkey and Armenia?” October 2, 2009
“Turkey and Armenia: Adjusting Expectations”, May 18, 2009

Diba Nigar Goksel has also written about Armenia’s domestic dynamics, for Turkish audiences

In 2009 and 2010 Diba Nigar Goksel gave numerous presentations on Turkey-Armenia relations at platforms like Chatham House in London, Jamestown Foundation in Washington DC, NUPI in Oslo and CIDOB in Barcelona. Nigar is active in a number of civil dialogue initiatives and workshops on Turkey-Armenia relations.
E-mail: n.goksel@esiweb.org

Nigar has been interviewed regularly by the Azerbaijani press about Turkey-Armenia relations.

Diba Nigar Goksel is at the same time the editor-in-chief of the Turkish Policy Quarterly (TPQ). Published since 2002, and focusing on Turkey's neighbourhood, TPQ has closely followed developments in the Caucasus and provided a platform for diverse views about the pressing issues of the region, including various dimensions of the Turkey-Armenia relations.

E-mail: nigar@turkishpolicy.com

Ekrem Eddy Güzeldere has been working since 2007 for ESI's Istanbul office. Ekrem contributed to the ESI report on Turkey-Armenia relations and has been working for the past year on Christian minorities: the Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul (ESI forthcoming report: The General and the Patriarch), and on ultranationalist networks targeting Christian minorities (ESI forthcoming report: Murder in Anatolia). In September 2010 he wrote about the first church service on Akhtamar Island, http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/akhtamar-island.