Orhan Gafarlı holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Ankara University, where he completed his dissertation titled “In Search of Identity in Russian Foreign Policy: Historical Analysis of Breaking Away from the West.” He also holds an M.A. from the International School for Caucasus Studies at Ilia University. Gafarlı was a research fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University from 2017 to 2018.
Gafarlı’s expertise spans Caucasus and Black Sea studies, Turkish domestic and foreign policy, Russian-Turkish relations, and energy security. He has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences across Europe and Asia on Eurasian security issues. His work has appeared in publications such as the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, D.C.), National Interest, and the Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst.
Gafarlı is the author of “Avrasya Çıkmazı Yeni Büyük Oyunu Kim Kazanacak” and “Rusya’nın Batı’dan Kopuşu,” both in Turkish. He has also published several academic papers on his areas of expertise.