Assembly of Turkish American Associations
presents webinar on
Outlook for Turkish American Relations in a
Second Trump Administration
Sunday, December 1, 2024, 1pm EST
*** ONLINE REGISTRATION ***
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_a_oq0sbeSSmp8LJWd8wZrg
Speakers
Colonel (Ret.) Rich Outzen, PhD
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, the Atlantic Council
Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı
Regional Director for Türkiye, German Marshall Fund
Alan Makovsky
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Moderator
G. Lincoln McCurdy
Senior Advisor, ATAA
Biographies
Colonel Rich Outzen (Ret.), PhD, is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY and a geopolitical analyst and consultant currently serving private sector clients as Dragoman LLC.
From 2016 to 2021, Outzen served in the US Department of State as both a military and civilian advisor, working in the Policy Planning Office and later the Office of the Special Representative for Syria. From 2013 to 2016, he was a member of the National Defense University (NDU) and Institute for National Security Studies faculty. He served as the US defense attaché in Kabul from 2014 to 2015. He previously served as the deputy chief of staff for training and development for the US Security Coordinator in Jerusalem. He has researched and published extensively on matters of policy and strategy, with a focus on the greater Middle East and Central Asia.
A US Army Foreign Area Officer, he has served in a variety of staff, command, and policy support assignments in Washington, DC and overseas. He has helped shape interagency discussion and national-policy options for transitions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. His areas of expertise include defense policy and strategy, strategic culture, the Middle East, NATO and Europe, and Central Asia. Outzen graduated cum laude with a BA from Dartmouth College in 1989, and holds an MA in national strategic affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School as well as an MS in national security resourcing from the NDU’s Eisenhower School of National Security and Resources Strategy. He also holds a PhD from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. He is a distinguished graduate of the Eisenhower School and a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
Outzen has published dozens of articles and book chapters on language, culture, strategy, and Middle Eastern affairs. Outzen speaks Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, and German, and has spent over a decade serving in US military and diplomatic missions overseas including combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His military service has also included tours in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff, and service as military attaché in Afghanistan and Israel.
Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı is regional director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in Türkiye. Prior to joining GMF, he was the manager of the Resource Development Department of the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey. Previously, Ünlühisarcıklı served as director of the ARI Movement, a Turkish NGO promoting participatory democracy, and as a consultant at AB Consulting and Investment Services.
Ünlühisarcıklı is an expert on transatlantic relations and Turkish foreign policy, domestic politics, democratization, and civil society. He is quoted frequently in international media including The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Deutsche Welle, and the BBC.
After graduating from the Robert College (Istanbul), Ünlühisarcıklı received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Marmara University and his master’s degree from Koç University. He speaks fluent English in addition to his native Turkish.
Alan Makovsky is a senior fellow for National Security and International Policy at American Progress. From 2001 to 2013, he served as a senior professional staff member on the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he covered the Middle East, Turkey, and other related issues.
At the Washington Institute for Near East Policy—a private think tank where he worked from 1994 to 2001—Makovsky wrote widely on various Middle Eastern and Turkish topics. He also founded and directed the Washington Institute’s Turkey Research Program.
At the State Department where he worked from 1983 to 1994—Makovsky variously covered southern European affairs and Middle Eastern affairs for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also served as the political advisor to Operation Provide Comfort in 1992 and as the special advisor to the special Middle East coordinator from 1993 to 1994.
G. Lincoln McCurdy is an international affairs professional with over 40 years of leadership and management experience in the U.S. government, private sector, NGOs, and community service.
Currently, he serves as a consultant on U.S.-Türkiye relations and grassroots organizing.
Mr. McCurdy is the Senior Advisor to the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA). He also advises the Turkish American political action committees and the Turkish American Women in Leadership Initiative. He was the former president of the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) and also served on the Board of Directors of the Turkish Philanthropy Funds. Prior to TCA, Mr. McCurdy was the president of the American-Turkish Council in Washington, DC. Earlier in his career, he worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce, served as the Consul for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, and was a consultant for the Bank of Boston in Türkiye.
He has received several awards and honors throughout his career. In 2018, Mr. McCurdy was one of the laureates of the Gusi International Peace Prize in Manila, Philippines, Asia’s foremost award for the attainment of peace and respect for human life. In 2023, he was honored at the 10th Turkish World Business Council (DTIK) Congress in Istanbul with a Friend of Türkiye Award presented by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Previously, the U.S. Department of State and the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce recognized Mr. McCurdy for his contributions to enhancing commercial relations between the United States and Türkiye, and he received the Turk of America Outstanding Achievement Award in Leadership & Management.
To commemorate the centennial of the Turkish Republic in 2023, Mr. McCurdy wrote “A Chronicle of Turkish American Relations, 1923-2023,” available on the Assembly of Turkish American Associations’ website.
He graduated from Hanover College in Indiana and holds an M.A. in International Management as a Wolcott Fellow from George Washington University. He and his wife have two daughters and two grandchildren.
