"Syria is very complicated. But the summoning of the Iranian ambassador and Russian representative to the foreign ministry and Russia’s letters to the Turkish chief of staff and head of intelligence are all good signs. It means the sides are communicating to resolve issues," said Akgun. "There should be no hasty decisions and conclusions regarding any Turkish isolation or the fate of Syria. There will be challenges and all parties must address them."

---

The 2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report released on January 26, 2017 by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania ranked Istanbul Kultur University affiliated Global Political Trends Center (GPoT) 71st among all participating university affiliated think tanks around the world. 

The EuroMeSCo Annual Conference on ''Countering Violent Extremism in the Euro-Mediterranean Region'' took place in Barcelona on 1-2 June 2017.

It gathered representatives from 106 institutes who are members of the EuroMeSCo network (the largest Euro-Mediterranean network of think tanks dealing with political and security issues), alongside a number of practitioners, diplomats and policy makers.

Global Political Trends Center organizes a presentation of its final publication in the Future of Syria Project. The Local Presentation will be held on 17th May at the Istanbul Kultur University, Atakoy Campus.

The Local Presentation is organized in the framework of EuroMeSCo ENI Project, co-financed by the European Union and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed).

Taking the current circumstances into consideration, this GPoT-led, EU and IEMed funded Working Package discusses frameworks for the Future of Syria.

---

The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011, quickly devolved into a violent war between Bashar al-Assad's regime and multiple, fragmented opposition movements. Six years later, the conflict has resulted in the deaths of over 250.000 Syrians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights; forced over 4 million people to migrate to neighboring countries; and displaced a further 7.6 million people within Syria.

Global Political Trends Center (GPoT Center) organised a conference on 7 April 2017 on the premises of Istanbul Kultur University.