Hasret Çomak is Professor of International Relations and Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences at Istanbul Kent University, Türkiye. His areas of expertise include international organizations, international security, and international law, as well as geopolitics, geostrategy, geoeconomics, the law of the sea, human rights law, and international humanitarian law. He graduated from the Turkish Military Academy (1976) and subsequently earned degrees in Public Finance (1982), Political Science (1982), and Law (1988) from Istanbul University. He received his M.A. in International Relations from the Institute of Social Sciences at Istanbul University in 1984. He later completed two Ph.D. degrees at the same institute, earning doctorates in Economics (1987) and Political Science and Public Administration (1990). Among his most recent publications are African Policy, The Geopolitics of the Black Sea, the two-volume The Geopolitics of the Mediterranean, the two-volume The Geopolitics of the Aegean, and the six-volume Refugee Crises in International Policy.
ORCID: 0000-0001-5162-5260 e-mail: hasret.comak@kent.edu.tr
Ege Furkan Toker graduated from the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University in 2021. He received his M.A. in International Law, Security and Strategic Studies from the University of Aberdeen in 2022. In 2024, he began his Ph.D. studies in International Relations at Galatasaray University. In the same year, he joined the Department of International Relations at Istanbul Kent University as a Research Assistant, where he continues his academic career.
ORCID: 0000-0002-4879-1687 e-mail: egefurkan.toker@kent.edu.tr
Oğuzhan Manioğlu is a Research Assistant in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences, Istanbul Kent University, Türkiye. He received his Ph.D. from Istanbul University with a dissertation titled “An Analysis of the Relationship Between the Concept of Paradiplomacy Developed Through Globalization and City Branding from the Perspective of Türkiye.” His research focuses on international relations, paradiplomacy, the internationalization of local governments, city branding, public administration, multilevel governance, digital and cyber diplomacy, geoeconomics, and global politics. He has published articles in national and international peer-reviewed journals and contributed book chapters in these fields. His research adopts an interdisciplinary approach, with particular emphasis on the rise of cities as global actors, digital transformation, global governance, and international political economy, aiming to bridge theory and practice while contributing to the academic literature.
ORCID: 0000-0001-9475-2307 e-mail: oguzhan.manioglu@kent.edu.tr