Understanding Türkiye

Join Ambassador George Krol on a journey of understanding through the complex history and culture of Türkiye—a nation more popularly known as Turkey. How did a tribe of nomads from the steppes of Central Asia come to form and run the great and diverse Ottoman Empire that lasted for over 600 years and, at its height, was the military, administrative, and cultural superpower of its time? How did the nation state of Türkiye emerge from the ruins of that Empire in the 20^th century to become the country it is today? We will also explore the exotic richness and diversity of Turkish society and culture and the imprint it has made on world culture and politics.

George Krol is a retired career U.S. diplomat, who spent 36 years in the U.S. Foreign Service (1982-2018) serving in senior positions both in the U.S. State Department in Washington and in U.S. diplomatic missions abroad, including posts as ambassador to Belarus, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Krol, a resident of Middletown, Rhode Island, currently serves as an adjunct professor at the U.S. Naval War College and is an associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.