Pinar Tank

Senior Researcher

Pinar Tank
Email: pinar@prio.org
Twitter: @PinarTank1

Research Interests

My current research focuses broadly on Turkey's domestic and foreign policies with a particular emphasis on the Middle East. In the realm of foreign policy, this includes Turkey's regional role, its geopolitical shifts as well as its international humanitarian outreach. In the domestic arena, my research has been related to the issues of democratisation, Kurdish-Turkish relations, gender, and political Islam. In addtion, I maintain my interest in civil-military relations in transitional democracies.

A related secondary theme using Turkey as a case is the role of rising powers in peacebuilding and humanitarianism.

Background

​​​​​​Languages spoken

English, Norwegian, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish

Working experience

1998–Present: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

Sept 2018 - present: Senior Researcher, PRIO

Aug 2013 - Sept 2018: Senior Researcher, based in Brazil

2011–Aug 2013: Research Director, Dimensions of Security

2010–2011: Programme Leader, Conflict Resolution and Peace Building

2009–2010: Senior Researcher

1998–2009: Research, Security Programme

1995–1997: Reseacher, Center for European and Asian Studies, Norwegian School of Management, BI.

1993–1995: Various positions including Teaching, translation and personal assistance.

Academic visitorships

2003 - Fulbright research scholarship, Georgetown University, Washington.

2001 (October) - Visiting Research fellow at Centre for Eurasian Strategic Studies (ASAM) in Ankara, Turkey. 

Education

2009 - Dr. Philos. in Political Science, Uniaversity of Oslo/PRIO.

Dissertation title: Turkey's military élite at a crossroad: Paths to desecuritisation?"

1993 - Master of Philosophy in International Relations - Security Studies, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

M.Phil thesis: “Ecofeminism: Critique or critical theory?”

1990 - Bachelor of Arts Honours in French and Politics (including one year spent at Literature Faculty of Université de Nantes, France as part of French language degree). University of Keele, England.


Publications

The following publications are specific to the PRIO Middle East Centre. A more complete list is available at www.prio.org.

All Publications

MidEast Policy Brief

Tank, Pinar (2023) Transactional Alliances: The Impact of the Ukraine War on the Middle East, MidEast Policy Brief, 3. Oslo: PRIO.
Martins, Bruno Oliveira; Pinar Tank & Beste İşleyen (2023) Turkish Drones as a Foreign Policy Tool: A Technology-Mediated Search for Autonomy, MidEast Policy Brief, 1. Oslo: PRIO.
Palik, Júlia & Pinar Tank (2022) Rebel Governance: Ansar Allah in Yemen and the Democratic Union Party in Syria, MidEast Policy Brief, 1. Oslo: PRIO.
Palik, Júlia & Pinar Tank (2022) The Impact of the War in Ukraine on the Saudi-Iranian Relationship, MidEast Policy Brief, 3. Oslo: PRIO.
Tank, Pinar (2020) Turkey and COVID-19: Balancing Health and Economic Priorities, MidEast Policy Brief, 4. Oslo: PRIO.
Tank, Pinar & Jørgen Jensehaugen (2019) Kurdish and Palestinian Quests for Self-Determination, MidEast Policy Brief, 1. Oslo: PRIO.

Peer-reviewed Journal Article

Jensehaugen, Jørgen & Pinar Tank (2022) Palestinian and Kurdish nationalism: Understanding the ‘politics of the possible’, Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 22(3): 219–234.
Tank, Pinar (2022) Rebel governance and gender in northeast Syria: Transformative ideology as a challenge to negotiating power, Third World Thematics: a TWQ Journal. DOI: 10.1080/23802014.2022.2115547.
Tank, Pinar (2021) Between Human and State Security: Turkey's Syria Policy under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), The International Spectator 56(4): 84–100.

Book Chapter

Tank, Pinar (2022) Golfmonarkienes økende utenrikspolitiske aktivisme [Increasing foreign policy activism of the Gulf monarchies], in Jon Nordenson, ed., Globale Veikryss: Golfmonarkiene i endring. Oslo: Cappelen Damm Akademisk (269–294).
Tank, Pinar (2019) Turkey: New Humanitarianism and Geostrategic Ambitions, in Agnieszka Paczyńska, ed., The New Politics of Aid: Emerging Donors and Conflict Affected States. Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers (121–140).

Popular Article

Tank, Pinar (2022) Erdoğans "nei": finsk og svensk NATO-medlemskap i skyggen av tyrkisk utenrikspolitikk [Erdogans "no": Finnish and Swedish NATO membership in the shadow of Turkish foreign policy], Den norske Atlanterhavskomité - Ukens analyse, 28 June.
Tank, Pinar; Júlia Palik; Jørgen Jensehaugen & Kristian Berg Harpviken (2022) Transactional Engagements: Middle Eastern Responses to the Ukrainian War, PRIO blogs, 24 March.

Related pages