Profile

Tuncay Babali, currently a Minister-Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. Former fellow at the Harvard Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (2009-2010). Dr. Babali has formerly served as counselor of the Turkish Embassies in Washington, D.C. and London, United Kingdom. Previously, he was deputy chief of cabinet to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, counseling on foreign policy issues, contributing to speech writing and preparing presidential level state visits to various foreign countries, setting agenda and scheduling for the president. Dr. Babali has also served in the Turkish Consulate General in Houston, Texas as the vice counsel, and second secretary at the Turkish Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria.

During his early career, he also seconded and worked in the Deputy Directorate General of the Energy, Water and Environmental Issues.

Mr. Babali earned his PhD from the University of Houston and has a MA degree from the University of London, School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS). He holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Marmara, Istanbul, Turkey. While at Harvard he is pursuing research on Russian resurgent foreign policy tools: energy, security and economy. He plans to offer a realistic assessment of their impact on its near abroad policy.