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Sep 02 2013 - 15:00

MART Sala Conferenze

Turkey, Between Taksim Square and the Negotiations with the European Union

Alberto Tetta

Alberto Tetta, correspondent from Turkey for the Balkans and Caucasus Observatory, and Luisa Chiodi, Scientific Director of the Balkans and Caucasus Observatory.

The meeting is introduced by Luisa Chiodi.

Europe seems unwilling to close the door on Turkey, but Prime Minister Erdogan and his moderate Islamic government will remain under close scrutiny at least until next October, when the annual report on the country's progress will be released. However, the recent upheavals that have rocked Ankara and Istanbul, along with the repression carried out by the Turkish government, are perceived by many as further evidence of the inability to adhere to minimum standards for the protection of democracy and fundamental rights. Is it possible to envision a fully democratic Turkey? And could EU membership have a beneficial effect on the country?

As a correspondent from Turkey for Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, she collaborates with Swiss Italian Radio, Panorama, l’Unità, Europa, Lettera43, Left, Rainews, Radio Rai, Radio Popolare, Radio Radicale, and Radio Capodistria. She lives in Istanbul and speaks Turkish fluently.
After earning a degree in History, Cultures, and Eastern Civilizations at the University of Bologna and a master’s degree in Inter-Mediterranean Mediation in Venice, she worked for the Turkish agency Bianet. During that time, she began collaborating with various Italian media outlets as a correspondent from Istanbul. In 2011, she briefly returned to Italy, where she worked at the Bologna office of the agency Redattore Sociale thanks to a scholarship from the Ilaria Alpi Foundation for young journalists. She writes about Turkey, the Arab world, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

She is the scientific director of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. She holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute in Fiesole (FI) and a degree in Political Science from the University of Milan. She has directed Osservatorio since 2006.
From 2003 to 2008, she was a contract lecturer in the History and Institutions of Eastern Europe at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna and has taught in numerous university courses in Italy and abroad. She has edited various volumes, coordinated research projects, and focuses on civil society and transnational social dynamics in the post-communist context.