Turkish graduate student works for improved global security

Pelin Musabay is both a thinker and a doer. She believes that because evolving threats to global security are multi-faceted, our approach to counter them must be comprehensive. The Turkish graduate student takes this lesson to heart, tackling the threats with her academic work in public diplomacy and as a dynamic organizer of seminars, workshops and conferences on international security.

Pelin, born in 1983, says globalization is transforming international relations, while new security challenges from drug trafficking, environmental risks and international terrorism are reshaping the global security landscape.

"All these transformations have shown that the security issues of our times must be regarded as complex, indivisible and multi-dimensional," she says. "As a result, there is an increasing need to develop a comprehensive approach based on open dialogue, co-operation and co-ordination, full respect for diversity, enforcement of democratic participation mechanisms and the defence of plurality within the international community."

This spring Pelin received her undergraduate degree in international relations from Galatasaray University. Her thesis looked at the role of public diplomacy in the new security environment, focusing on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). She also wrote articles on Japan and Germany's positions on United Nations' Security Council Reform and on the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Getting youth involved in global security issues

But she doesn't stop with the written word. "To build a much more civilized world, we must be more involved in political and social issues that surround our lives."

Pelin is the past President of Galatasary University's International Law and Diplomacy club. She is also a founding member and current Secretary-General of the Turkish Youth Euro-Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA-TURK), a government-supported youth organization designed to inform young people about international security issues.

"With the support of academics, military officials and diplomats, I was able to organize numerous international simulations, workshops and conferences. For instance, Youth for Peace 2006 was one of the projects on which I successfully co-operated with NATO, the United Nation's Ankara Office and the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Earlier this year, she served on the organizing committee of the Security from Europe throughout Turkey to South Caucasus Conference and chaired the event's workshop on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Cultivating cross-cultural understanding

Pelin has also gained a wide variety of work experience. She has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Secretariat General for EU Affairs, the Belgium Office Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) and the Bogazici University TUSIAD Foreign Policy Forum.

"Today, we live in a world where efforts to promote peace and stability must take place at every level of society, especially with the active participation of the young generation."

She is now a master's degree candidate in Eurasian Studies at Middle East Technical University, where she is broadening her academic work on international relations into international security.

Turkey, together with Spain, is a co-sponsor of the United Nation's Alliance of Civilizations initiative, which is designed to improve cross-cultural understanding. Pelin considers fostering tolerance of key importance.

Action speaks louder than words

Pelin's secondary studies were conducted in French. During university, she spent a semester in Belgium, at the Universite Catholique de Louvain as an exchange student with Erasmus, an international non-governmental organization that promotes student exchanges.

"I lived with other students from all over the world, which proved to me once again how crucial it is to be sensitive to political, economic and social developments beyond our region."

She will focus on tolerance while attending the Organization for Security and Co-operation's Youth Forum in Madrid in November.

"Establishing and ensuring dialogue on tolerance should be one of the most important tasks on the agenda," Pelin says. "Through this Forum, I hope that we, as the leaders of tomorrow, can help to pave the way for taking concrete actions against the challenges threatening our peace and security, because actions always speak louder than words."