Galip Dalay

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Bio

Galip Dalay is a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. He is also associate fellow at Chatham House and doctoral researcher at Oxford University. He was Mercator-ICP (Istanbul Policy Center) fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), nonresident fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre, visiting scholar at the University of Oxford, and a political researcher at the SETA Foundation in Ankara.

Dalay also served as research director and senior associate at Al Sharq Forum, Richard von Weizsäcker fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy, and visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Science (IWM) in Vienna. He has served on high-level task forces, including task forces organized by the Robert Bosch Academy and the Institute for Human Science.

Dalay’s research focuses on regionalism and regional order in the Middle East, regional security, Turkish politics, Turkish foreign policy, post-conflict stabilization and peace building, the making of the modern Middle East (global and historical processes), and the changing place of international powers (Russia, US, and Europe) in the Middle East.

Dalay has published a large number of commentaries, policy papers, academic articles, and chapters in edited volumes, most recently “Turkish-Russian Relations in Light of Recent Conflicts: Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh” (SWP Research Paper); “Turkey, Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean: Charting a way out of the current deadlock” (Brookings Doha Center Policy Briefing). His work has also appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Project Syndicate, CNN, Newsweek, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, Open Democracy, Middle East Eye, and The World Politics Review.

Research Areas

  • Regionalism and regional order in the Middle East
  • Regional security
  • Political transition
  • Post-conflict stabilization and peacebuilding

Countries of Focus

  • Turkey
  • Mashreq
  • Eastern Mediterranean
  • Russia
  • US/Europe

 

Other Areas of Interest

  • Global and historical processes and the making of modern Middle East
  • Governance and citizenship

Education

  • Ph.D., History, Oxford University, In progress
  • M.S., European Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 2011
  • B.S., Business Administration, Istanbul University, 2009

Articles

In this Council Views, ME Council experts react to Donald Trump’s re-election, analyzing what his return to the White House means for the Middle East and North Africa. 
Ahmed Morsy, Mouin Rabbani, Tarik M. Yousef, Nader S. Kabbani, Paul Dyer, Aisha Al-Sarihi, Galip Dalay, Ranj Alaaldin, Robert P. Beschel Jr., Justin Dargin , Faozi Al-Goidi, Alhala Alkuwari, Abdalftah Hamed Ali, Mahjoob Zweiri, Yahia H. Zoubir
As tensions rise in the Horn of Africa, how are MENA actors involved and what is the potential fallout for both regions?
Afyare A. Elmi, Redie Bereketeab, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Ahmed Morsy, Galip Dalay, Faozi Al-Goidi, Tanner Manley, Tsedenya Girmay
After 13 years of absence, Türkiye’s attendance at the Arab League Summit signals improving ties with some states, while tensions with Syria remain.
Galip Dalay
Iraq, Türkiye, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates agreed to collaborate on the ambitious Development Road project. ME Council experts assess the drivers behind the agreement and feasibility of the initiative.    
Ranj Alaaldin, Dania Thafer, Galip Dalay, Özge Genç, June Park
Middle East Council experts analyze the implications of the exchange of strikes between Iran and Israel for the ongoing war on Gaza.
Galip Dalay, Omar H. Rahman, Ranj Alaaldin, Özge Genç, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Shahram Akbarzadeh, Hamidreza Azizi
In this interview with Afkār, Galip Dalay examines Russia’s changing role in the Middle East over two years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s recent elections.
Galip Dalay
So far, the diplomatic response from states in the Middle East has not matched the severity of the crisis or the risks it poses to the region.  
Galip Dalay
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is entering its fourth month with no end in sight. Council experts explore various dimensions of the fallout.
Adel Abdel Ghafar, Galip Dalay, Omar H. Rahman, Beverley Milton Edwards, Tarik M. Yousef, Abdalftah Hamed Ali, Alhala Alkuwari, Ranj Alaaldin, Sahar Khamis
Middle East Council experts offer their thoughts on the unfolding crisis in Palestine-Israel that began on October 7.
Ali Bin Musa, Shahram Akbarzadeh, Sahar Khamis, Nader S. Kabbani, Beverley Milton Edwards, Hamidreza Azizi, Omar H. Rahman, Galip Dalay, Noha Aboueldahab, Saoud El Mawla, Faozi Al-Goidi
The expansion of BRICS, announced at the August summit in South Africa, signals an emerging shift in the international order. Middle East Council experts analyze the significance of the bloc on the global stage and discuss questions raised at the summit about multipolarity, de-dollarization, and more.
Galip Dalay, Beverley Milton Edwards, Aisha Al-Sarihi, Shahram Akbarzadeh, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Ranj Alaaldin, June Park, Oumeyma Chelbi, Abdalftah Hamed Ali
In this interview with Afkār, Turkish scholar Galip Dalay offers his insights on incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most recent electoral triumph, what it means for the Turkish opposition, and for the country’s domestic and foreign policies in the years ahead.   
Galip Dalay
Twenty years have passed since the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, leaving the country and the wider region forever changed. In this Council Views, Middle East Council experts reflect on this seminal moment in the region’s modern history and what has ensued in the two decades since. 
Galip Dalay, Omar H. Rahman, Ranj Alaaldin, Faozi Al-Goidi, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Robert P. Beschel Jr., Tarik M. Yousef, Larbi Sadiki
ME Council's experts survey the region’s socio-political and economic landscape and offer their outlooks for the year ahead.
Ranj Alaaldin, Nader S. Kabbani, Nejla Ben Mimoune, Galip Dalay, Faozi Al-Goidi, Adel Abdel Ghafar, Omar H. Rahman
With the Islamic Republic engulfed in crisis, Middle East Council experts weigh in on the protests rocking the country, issues of accountability, and what they mean for the wider region.
Omar H. Rahman, Tarik M. Yousef, Ranj Alaaldin, Noha Aboueldahab, Galip Dalay
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s handshake with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi on November 20 marked a turning point in a relationship broken for over a decade by deep differences over the Arab Spring protest movements.   The same day, Turkey carried out its latest air strikes against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, amid growing threats… Continue reading Turkey’s post-Arab Spring Middle East policy sharpens its focus 
Galip Dalay
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on the sidelines of the European Political Community meeting in Prague on October 6, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan created diplomatic waves by stating that he could meet with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad “when the time is right.” Erdogan’s comment was the first of its kind since the… Continue reading Turkey’s New Syria Narrative
Galip Dalay