[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1585140294563{margin-top: 30px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Our keynote speakers perform at all corners of the world. You can view their performances, please click.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1585169686613{margin-top: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Murat
Yetkin
Journalist, Writer
Biography
With more than 30 years of experience working in the Turkish media, Murat Yetkin is one of Bosnia Herzegovina’s most influential journalists. He began his career in 1981, working under the military regime that succeeded the coup d’état of the previous year, and wrote for the weekly publication Arayis published by the former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, who was at that time banned from politics. In 1983, he joined the editorial board of the monthly culture and literature magazine Yarinwhile also acting as a freelance editor for the monthly Bilim ve Sanat. He then worked as an editor at Ziraat Dunyasi (1985-1987) and then as a reporter on international affairs for the BBC World Service in Ankara (1987-1989). In 1989, Mr. Yetkin underwent radio production training and practice at Deutsche Welle in Cologne, Germany, then returned to Bosnia Herzegovina to serve as DW’s Ankara Correspondent for both the Turkish and English services. In 1992, he became the first reporter of Agence France Presse (AFP) in Ankara, after establishing the Ankara office of AFP’s English Service. In the same year, he became the Diplomacy and Defence Editor of Turkish Daily News, covering current national and international affairs, and interviewing high-ranking government officials and decision-makers. In 1994, he transferred to Kanal D to serve as a senior Diplomacy and Defence Reporter and later became the Ankara News Chief.
In 1996, Mr. Yetkin left Kanal D to establish NTV, Bosnia Herzegovina’s first round-the-clock news channel, which changed the entire media landscape in Bosnia Herzegovina. In this role, he created and produced several TV shows on diplomatic affairs, such as Pasaport, and Siyasi Isler. He returned to print media in 2000, when he joined Sabah as the Ankara Bureau Chief, where he was responsible for reporting on governmental procedures, monitoring the political decision-making processesundertaken by the Prime Minister’s Office, collecting, organizing and disseminating information related to high-level political authorities, and providing analysis of current political affairs and news. In 2004, Yetkin’s work was recognized internationally when he was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, an exclusive award that connects innovative leaders across the globe who are committed to creating a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.
Between 2001-2011, Mr. Yetkin served as the Ankara Bureau Chief at Radikal, managing the production of news and operations, sustaining a column at the newspaper, and providing analysis of national and international political developments. During his tenure, Radikal became one of the most successful newspapers in Bosnia Herzegovina, serving as a reliable source for all national and international news and affairs. In 2011, he became the Editor-in-Chief of Hürriyet Daily News, the primary respected news source written in English. Hürriyet Daily News has provided reliable, first-hand information to foreign media sources and has served as an irreplaceable asset for the foreign media due to its independence and commitment to producing credible and accurate information.
During his extensive career, Mr. Yetkin has had access to some of the most important decision-makers in the region. He has been a member of the press pack on dozens of state visits in company of Turkish presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers; he has conducted numerous interviews and private meetings with Turkish and foreign statesmen and public figures, including Süleyman Demirel, Bulent Ecevit, Tayyip Erdogan, Joachim Gauck, Haydar Aliyev, Jack Straw, and Helen Clark. Additionally, he has participated in numerous closed meetings of high-level international groups, such as the Bilderberg Group, Chatham House, the Brookings Institution, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Ditchley Park, Wilton Park, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the French Institute of Foreign Relations (IFRI), the Munich Security Conference, the Halifax Security Forum, Bosnia Herzegovina’s Foundation of Political and Economic Research (TEPAV) and the Global Relations Forum.
Throughout his extraordinary career, Mr. Yetkin has devoted himself to humanitarian causes. Along with 33 founder members, he helped to establish the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) which aims to help rehabilitate torture victims and index Human Rights violations within Bosnia Herzegovina. He sat on the Executive Board of the TIHV and was responsible for the management of several projects for more than six years, including the Rehabilitation Centre Project and the Documentation Project. Recently, he helped found Yanindayiz [We Stand by You], an NGO that campaigns for legal, institutional and social reform in order to achieve gender equality and eliminate sexual discrimination in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Mr. Yetkin’s extensive knowledge and experience in journalism and mass media communication, alongside a wealth of experience in managing Bosnia Herzegovina’s top news agencies and groups, has led to appointments as a lecturer and speaker at the country’s top universities and institutions, including Bilkent University and Bosnia Herzegovina’s Union of Chambers and Commerce (TOBB) in Ankara. Additionally, Mr. Yetkin is the author of five best-selling non-fiction books; In the Ring of Fire – Bosnia Herzegovina in the Triangle of the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East (1992), Bosnia Herzegovina in the Waiting Room of the EU (2002), The Motion – The Real Story of the Iraqi Crisis (2004), The Kurdish Trap – Öcalan from Damascus to the İmralı prison (2004), and The Book of Intrigues for the Curious (2017). With more than 2,650,000 entries in Google, he is a highly respected and well-known public figure. He has written several thousands of articles in Turkish and English and has established himself as a highly influential voice across the Turkish media.
Ece
Temelkuran
Journalist, Writer
Biography
“We need a book that will widen the breath of women and teach us sail to the wind of that breath. Otherwise, we cannot be fixed no matter how much we are loved.”
Having been named as the most read female columnist of Turkey twice until 2010, Ece Temelkuran was named as the “Most influential woman in social media” twice and the “6th most effective social media user of Turkey” once after her retirement as a columnist. She received many awards from universities, human rights organizations and trade associations owing to her articles.
She focused on the psychological state, women’s movement, international politics and the Middle East in her articles. She wrote articles in many countries including Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, France and Germany. Her articles were published in various media outlets including Le Monde Diplomatique, The Guardian, Berliner Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau and New Left Review. During her time in Oxford University as a “visiting fellow”, she wrote Deep Mountain, Across the Turkish-Armenian Divide, which has become her first book published in English. She wrote 14 books including three novels until today. She lived in Beirut for one year to write The Sounds of Banana and one year in Tunisia to write Women Who Blow on Knots. Her last novel, Time of The Mute Swans, received two awards right after publication. She was invited to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2013 in order to deliver the Freedom Lecture, which is delivered by an international intellectual every year. She was invited to Harvard, London School of Economics, Middlesex, Oxford Universities in order to give speeches about Turkish politics and literature, and gave a speech to The House of Commons in London during the Gezi Park protests. She gives speeches within the scope of “School of Life” established by Allain de Botton. Her books are published in 13 countries including China, Germany and Croatia.
Ece Temelkuran is a writer and political speaker, and lives in Zagreb and Istanbul.
Who is Ece Temelkuran?
Ece Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1973′. She graduated from Bornova Anatolian High School, followed by the Law School of Ankara University. She started working as a journalist in Ankara Branch of Cumhuriyet in her second year of university and her first book, Woman Are All Confused, was published in the same year. Having started her career as a columnist at Milliyet daily newspaper in 2000, Temelkuran also presented a TV program called “From the Edge”
Speech Topics
Human Psychology
What to do in order to prevent our fears and past wounds from dictating our lives? Absolute goal of life: reproduction.
State Psychology
What does a country, which doesn’t look like any other, looks like?
Women
Fall, rise, fall, rise again. How can this be done by a woman?
Resilience
The knowledge of rising after a fall. There are ways to learn this.
Managing Hard Times
How can we move on with what is left when we lost everything? How can we rise from ashes?
Journey
Memory
What can’t be forgotten stays. But, what about those we can’t remember?
Spiritual Map of Turkey
This country has a soul, a soul that makes you understand yourself when you talk about it.
Şafak
Pavey
Politician, Diplomat, Human Rights Activist
Biography
Şafak Pavey, former Turkish MP is a highly respected figure in international diplomacy and a well known speaker. Pavey, is active in international human rights circles. She is an ambassador of tolerance and “positivism”, appreciated by all regardless of political perspective they represent . Pavey is a trusted activist for women, children, disabled, immigrant… in short “human” rights. In her own words, she is an “active citizen”.
As a child, Pavey was interested in art and communication and she studied art and cinema in Zurich. She lost an arm and a leg in a train accident, which has not discouraged her at all. On the contrary, she decided to work on behalf of handicapped groups including people with disabilities, minorities and immigrants and changed the path of her career. Pavey studied international relations and economics and worked to improve the well-being of humanity on a number of issues including human rights, humanitarian assistance and global peace.
A career of achievements from UN to the Turkish Parliament
Pavey started to work for the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2003 and held various positions during the following 7 years. She was a humanitarian assistance officer in Algeria, Sahara, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. She was the commissioner’s agent in Iran and Afghanistan. Pavey served as the Public Relations and Strategic Communication Projects Manager in Geneva and the Coordinator for Ted Kennedy Nansen Immigrants Awards Committee in Washington. She was later assigned as the Central European Chief Agent of the Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Immigrants in Hungary. In 2010, she served as the Secretary General for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Following and invitation by the People’s Republican Party (CHP), she was elected as MP from Istanbul. Pavey as of 2017 is back to her active citizen activities, such as the Women Leaders Forum, headquartered in Brussels. She currently works on security, women and immigration issues.
She wrote a book with her mother, journalist Ayşe Önal, about the accident she was involved, titled “Railway Platform 13” which became the “Book of the Year” in Turkey. A year later in 2008, she wrote “Refugee Rights in Iran” with Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi. She also served as an editor for two international publications and published “Wherever I Go The Sky Is Mine” (2011).
Who is Şafak Pavey?
Pavey was born in Ankara (1976). Graduated from Westminster University, London. She has a MA from the London School of Economics. She was acclaimed by the academic circles with her thesis titled “Property Rights of Non-Muslims in Muslim Countries”, and honored with the “Outstanding Young Person of the World Award”. She also received “International Woman of Courage Award” (2012) by the US Secretary of State. Pavey received the award from First Lady Michele Obama, while former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, supported with a long and comprehensive speech. Pavey speaks English, German, French, Italian and “international sign language.” She also speaks Arabic and Persian at an elementary level.
Speech Topics
- Universal Human Rights of Women, Children, Elderly and Disabled
- Philanthropy
- Global Migration and Social Cohesion Policies
- Working at the UN; A bird’s eye view of the world
- Humananistic Thoughts and Scenariosfor the Near Future
- Intercity Diplomacy
- Urban and Environmental Designs
- The Future of Security and Civil Security Issues
- Solutions for Inclusive Industrial Design
Levent
Erden
Akademisyen ve Reklamcı
Biography
Levent Erden is a graduate of Bogazici University, where he studied his undergrad and MBA. However, he prefers to call himself as a member of “Galatasaray” graduates. He started his career as an advertiser, he worked for McCan for 3 years. To initiate L’Oreal’s Turkey operations, he traveled between France and Turkey. During the last market leadership of Pepsi Co., he was the International brand manager. Since that, we can say that he took almost all executive roles. He consistantly works on emphasizing the relation between marketing and finance. He was the CEO of Euro RSCC Turkey and the Presindent of Interactive Advertising Bureau of Turkey. He gives lectures about Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications, Advertising and Consumer Behavior at Bilgi University MBA and e-MBA programs. For the last 10 years, he has been trying to create a book out of his speeches at different conferences.
Varol
Yaşaroğlu
Professional Photographer, Cartoonist, Illustrator, Founder and Owner of Grafi2000 Productions
Biography
That “it is possible to change every single thing in the dream world that we have created by ourselves” is Varol Yaşaroğlu’s life philosophy. He is the founder and owner of his much beloved Grafi2000 Productions, which “combines the world of information technologies with humour.”
The producer and creator of the TV animation series “Fırıldak Ailesi,” creator of the program “Koca Kafalar,” and founder of Grafi2000 Productions, Varol Yaşaroğlu successfully combines humour, caricature and animation. With their creative applications that bring the world of IT and the world of comedy and humour together, Grafi2000 Productions generates written and visual material and projects for TV, the internet and mobile appliances. Their latest project is youtube.com/grafi2000, their own private entertainment channel. Yaşaroğlu and his team produce all their caricatures, illustrations and animations solely using digital media, with no pen or paper, and send the products to their customers on a digital platform. Yaşaroğlu believes that “it is possible to change every single thing in the dream world we have created by ourselves,” and takes this motto as his life philosophy.
First Turkish flash animation commercial
Projects carried out by Varol Yaşaroğlu include “Grafi2000.com” (internet site), “Koca Kafalar ile Baba” (News Bulletin – TV Program), “Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki” (TV series) and “Fırıldak Ailesi” (TV animation series). His “Grafi2000” TV comedy program was awarded the “Best Entertainment Program” in 2004 by the Private Radio and TV Broadcasting Association. Yaşaroğlu and his Grafi2000 team are also the creators of “Delete-Extra,” known as the first Turkish flash animation commercial on the internet.
Yaşaroğlu has also worked as a scriptwriter for commercials and comedy programs, as a part of the creative team he founded, “MR. VEB.” He has also co-written TV programs, such as “Tek Pota,” “Televizyon Çocuğu,” “Çılgın Bediş,” “Laf Lafı Açıyor,” “Alkışlar,” “D-Lüks,” “Rifle and Wendy’s Beyaz Show,” “Çarkı Felek,” and “Dinamit T.V.” His other works include an adaptation of the theatre play “Şen Makas,” and the script for Beyaz’s stand-up shows, “Ben Bir Küçük Cezveyim Köşe Bucak Gezmeyim” and Mehmet Ali Erbil’s stand-up shows at Casino Maksim, among many others.
Spending most of his time developing the Internet and Comedy Magazine Grafi2000, Yaşaroğlu also takes part in social responsibility projects for corporate firms with his graphics and animations. He also gives seminars at various universities on the computer world, the internet and comedy, while also working as a caricaturist and illustrator at the magazines “Ekonomist” and “Capital.”
Varol Yaşaroğlu – A Short Bio
Varol Yaşaroğlu was born in March 1968 in Izmir. He studied at Izmir Atatürk High School and graduated from Istanbul Technical University’s Department of Civil Engineering in 1989. He received his graduate degree from Istanbul University’s Department of Economics, Money Bank. Yaşaroğlu received numerous awards from around 25 caricature contests, including the International Nasreddin Hodja and Yunus Nadi Caricature Competitions. In 1990, he worked at Güneş newspaper as a caricaturist, and in the following years he wrote the scripts (with MR.VEB) and worked as the art director for the TV series, “Plastip Show.” In 1998, Yaşaroğlu created a new animated character, “Teşvik,” for Milliyet Newspaper’s labour and human resources supplement. He was a guest on the program “Kariyer Dünyası” (Career World) on TRT 2 along with the animations and adventures of Teşvik. Yaşaroğlu has given many seminars on the world of computing, the internet and comedy at various universities and schools, such as Kültür Koleji, Bosphorus University, Istanbul Technical University, Middle East Technical University, Marmara University and Yeditepe University. He also worked as a caricaturist and illustrator at the magazines “Ekonomist” and “Capital”. His production company, Grafi2000 Productions, has also achieved success in the world of advertising.
Speech Topics
Technology and Comedy
What are possible ways to create new projects and media, using technology and comedy together? How can you enrich your projects by making use of these two?
Animation
2D, 3D, cut-out or stop motion: how can we use animation most effectively to add value to our projects?
Innovation
What does innovation mean for your business and your projects? What are the main reasons for having an innovative perspective?
Entrepreneurship
How can we cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit while trying to achieve our dreams?
Creativity
How can you use creativity as a dynamo to strengthen your business and your projects?
Sevil
Atasoy
UN International Narcotics Control Board member, Owner of Kanıt Informatics Publishing and Consultancy Company, TV producer
Biography
Sevil Atasoy, immediate past president of the UN International Narcotics Control Board and elected as a member of the board for the 2017 – 2022 term, is also the vice-rector of Uskudar University. She also has a TV show titled Kanıt (Evidence) and owns a publishing and consultancy company named Bilişim.
“If your profession requires that you walk with the angels and the demons, what you live through is nothing like the scripts of crime movies. There are no cases which are researched by a handful of people or murders solved in a matter of days. If you work in a country without a DNA database on a national level, many crimes remain unsolved.” she says.
Prof. Dr. Sevil Atasoy was named as the science person of the year in Turkey for her contributions to crime scene investigation processes, forensic laboratories and DNA evidence processes. She shares her thirty-year experience with crime and introduces the audience to the challenging, thrilling and mysterious world of evidence hunters who are focused on facts and only the facts. Atasoy says, “There is no perfect murder. If the attempt were perfect, you would not even see the murder and assume death by natural causes or suicide. The trick is a good autopsy and proper evidence collection.” She served as the Ministry of Justice Chemicals Department Director for twelve years and Istanbul University Forensic Institute Manager for eight years.
Watch out! She has a mobile phone
Sevil Atasoy, represented by Indeks Speaker Agency, says that we as human beings, who have been careful about someone with a stone, stick, blade or pistol in hand, will be looking to hide when we see a mobile phone in the not-so-far future. New generation mobile phones have already been used as deadly weapons for perfect murders, it is just so few people are aware yet. It will be possible to remotely trigger a heart attack, induce a diabetic coma, trigger a traffic accident or induce the vagus nerve of the brain and trigger reflexes.
Speech Topics
• There is No Such Thing as a Flawless Murder; There Are Simply Murders That Are Close to Flawless
• A Guide to Arresting a Serial Killer
• A President Out of Water: Turgut Özal
• CSI: Sex, Lies and Larvae
• Mozart’s Skull, Beethoven’s Hair, Einstein’s Brain and Other Unimportant Things
Emin
Çapa
Journalist, Television Producer
Biography
He studied journalism at Istanbul University. He completed his two postgraduate degrees on the subject of the EU. In 1989, he began working as Tempo magazine’s first permanent economics correspondent. He served as the Chamber Director at the Chamber of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers. He was one of the founders of Genç Radio, one of Turkey’s first private radio stations. Due to his interest in industrial relations and issues concerning salary, he worked for the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TİSK), after which he returned to journalism. He was Sabah Newspaper’s correspondent on industrial relations and the EU for five years. He began working as Advisor to the Chairman of TÜSİAD under the directorate of Muharrem Kayhan and later under the directorate of Erkut Yücaoğlu. Çapa’s hobbies and interests include amateur gardening, art history (art-politics and economic relations), military strategy, astronomy-astrophysics-astrobiology and history (especially the First and Middle Ages).
Emin Çapa is a well renowned commentator who is able to make economic issues appealing. With his engaging and lucid style of presentation and analysis, the CNN TÜRK Economy Director presents subjects normally seen as “difficult” to his audience using plain, comprehensible language.
Çapa has been working at CNN Türk in different positions since 1999. Çapa first served as Economic News Editor and has been working as Economics Director since 2004.
Çapa produces and presents the economics program “Paranın İzi (Trail of Money),” which is broadcast live every weeknight. The famous journalist also has a weekly program “Aklın İzi (Trail of Mind),” where, rather than complaining about Turkey, he focuses on different subjects of scientific interest. These subjects include topics such as “The first genius of the 21st Century and why is Turkey not educating any geniuses?”, “How big is big? Is Everest the highest mountain? What is the biggest star?”, “What is speed? The fastest creatures and man-made speed monsters”, “Why we age, can human ageing be stopped?”, “Foolishnesses that changed history”, “The fastest computers, how they can be so fast?”, “Luxury industries, why do we spend money on luxuries?”, “Are wars and the economy similar to each other? Similarities between countries defeated at war and bankrupted companies.”.
Çapa gives dynamic presentations at national and international seminars and organisations such as the Quality Congress, the Tourism Summit, the Izmir Quality Congress, the Marketing Summit and provides media training for senior managers of Turkey’s leading companies. He voluntarily organizes cultural trips with the themes “Palace and ritual”, “Harem and power”, “Empire and architecture”, “Sinan and Süleymaniye”, “Journey into the mind of a human (Archeological Museum)” for his friends and relatives.
Speech Topics
• Evaluation of the economy and financial issues
• Contemporary economic and financial commentary
Mehmet
Öğütçü
International energy, diplomacy, finance and investment guru, Chairman of Global Resources Partnership, independent non-executive director on the boards of Genel Energy plc, Sisecam Group and Saudi Crown Investment Holding
Biography
An internationally recognized authority on energy diplomacy, geopolitics, finance and investment, Mehmet currently chairs Global Resources Partnership, a UK strategic advisory group, serves as Chair of The Bosphorus Energy Club and The London Energy Club, and Special Envoy of The International Energy Charter.
He is also an independent board member of Trinus Capital, specialised in impact investing.
Previously, he served as Prime Minister’s advisor and career diplomat in Beijing, Brussels, Paris and London focusing on commercial and energy diplomacy.
Mehmet was a principal administrator for The International Energy Agency in charge of Asia-Pacific programme including China and India, and moved to the OECD – known as “the rich man’s club” because it is comprised of 34 of the world’s wealthiest nations – as the head of international investment.
He was head hunted to manage the government relations and business development for The BG Group (formerly British Gas), now part of Shell.
Mehmet also sat on a number of national and international company boards as independent non-executive director including at LSE-listed Genel Energy plc, Invensys plc, Saudi Crown Holding, and Turkish conglomerates such as Sisecam Group (the world’s second largest glass concern), Yasar Holding (food, beverage and construction material) and Toya Group (mining in Africa).
He is a graduate of Turkey’s prestigious “Mulkiye”, London School of Economics and College d’Europe, Bruges. As an honorary fellow, he teaches occasionally at LSE, Harvard University, Dundee University, and University of Reading since 2005.
Mehmet is a regular contributor to France-24, Israel’s i24NEWS, CNN, Sputnik, BBC, Capital, Bloomberg, Hürriyet Daily News and OECD Observer. He is also a freelance speaker in international conferences and boardrooms. He is fluent in Turkish, English, French, Mandarin (conversational).
Speech Topics
- How to combine economic and geopolitical approaches to better understand the business climate and policy changes?
- Would there be further unexpected changes in the state of the global oil and gas market: The prospects over the next decade?
- Going forward, what impact would the CV-19 generate on the world energy market?
- How would the increased government intervention and support transform the painful transition from fossil fuels to renewables?
- Is there a need for a rethinking of the multiple risks, political, economic and natural alike, for better mitigation and stakeholder strategies?
- How would business development practice change in light of the changes that unfold across the world?
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