Kursat Cinar, a graduate student in political science, is the winner of the prestigious Sabanci International Research Award for 2013.  He co-authored an article with Meral Ugur Cinar titled, “Building Democracy to Last: The Turkish Experience in Comparative Perspective”.  This award was created to encourage research on all aspects of Turkish culture, society and politics and recognizes the most significant contributions to Turkish politics showcasing Turkey’s role in the contemporary world.

This year the theme of the award was checks and balances in a democracy: Turkey in a comparative perspective. Cinar and Cinar’s article was able to contribute to this theme by synthesizing theoretically and contextually informed case studies with their own original statistical results obtained from a current study.  Through their research, they were able to reinforce the indispensable relationship between democracy and checks and balances.  They also discuss the implications of their findings in the Turkish case.  

Additional information about the award and their research.

Congratulations on such a terrific honor Kursat!