The Danube Institute and the Department of Political Science of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University cordially invite you to a lecture by

Norman Stone: Whither Turkey?

Turkey is in a state of flux. Ten years ago, the country’s direction of political travel and its aspiration to be more Western in outlook was taken for granted. Critics now complain of President’ Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic style, and say he has sought to exploit and magnify the divisions within Turkish society for political advantage, while trying to muzzle the press.

Economically, Turkey continues to prosper. Now the world’s 15th largest economy, it has a burgeoning middle class, whose incomes have tripled since Erdogan came to power, and it can boast gleaming tower blocks and new hotels as well as more hospitals and schools. The country’s mix of modern and traditional, secular and Islamic, leads to the oft asked question: “Whither Turkey?”

Professor Norman Stone, who has worked in Turkey for the last 18 years, will seek to answer that question in a lecture to be delivered on 25th February.

Norman Stone is one of Britain's best known and most controversial historian, former student, then lecturer, at the University of Cambridge, Professor of History at the University of Oxford, and, until very recently professor of International Relations at the University of Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey. He was also an adviser and speech writer to the British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and is the author of many books on Twentieth Century history, including The Eastern Front 1914–17 (1975), Hitler (1980), Europe Transformed, 1878–1919 (1983), The Other Russia (1990), and The Atlantic and Its Enemies: A Personal History of the Cold War (2010). Professor Stone’s lecture will be followed by discussion and light refreshments.

Norman Stone's lecture will be followed by a response from Tamás Szigetvári (Pázmány Péter Catholic Univeristy), and a debate.

After the event, light refreshments will be  served.

Date: Wednesday, 25th February 2015, 5.30pm

Venue: Pázmány Péter Catholic Univeristy
1088 Budapest, Mikszáth K. tér 1., Sophianum, Room 112

Registration is required: http://danubeinstitute.hu/article/whither-turkey

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