The panel titled “Current Issues in the Balkans,” organized by the Department of International Relations in collaboration with the Giresun University Strategic Research Society and the Black Sea Strategic Research and Application Center, was held on 20 April 2026 at 14:00 in the Mevlana Hall of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Giresun University. The panel was moderated by Prof. Dr. Göktürk Tüysüzoğlu.

One of the speakers, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayça Eminoğlu, addressed the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the major problem areas in the Balkan region. She emphasized that the heavy bureaucratic structure introduced by the Dayton Peace Agreement, which also constitutes the constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the ethnically based political system have not contributed to resolving existing problems.

The other speaker, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kader Özlem, focused on political disputes and border disagreements among the Western Balkan countries and highlighted potential future areas of conflict. She also noted that recent changes in political approaches in the region have been shaped within the context of European Union membership aspirations.

At the end of the panel, certificates of participation were presented to the speakers and the moderator by Prof. Dr. Servet Ceylan, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Giresun University. The event concluded with a question-and-answer session and participants’ evaluations.

The Department of International Relations would like to thank the speakers for their valuable contributions and all participants for their interest.