Dr. Nihat Ali Özcan received his Bachelors degree both from the Military Academy/Ankara and Istanbul University Faculty of Law. Dr. Özcan holds a Master and D.Phil. from 9 Eylül University. His doctoral dissertation was the first academic work on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Dr. Özcan retired from Turkish Armed Forces as a Major in March 1998. Dr. Özcan worked extensively on terrorism, counterinsurgency and Middle Eastern politics at various research centers in Turkey. Dr. Özcan taught several courses in 9 Eylül University Faculty of Law, Hacettepe University, Military Academy Institute for Defense Sciences, Institute for National Security, War Academies and TOBB University of Economics and Technology. Dr. Özcan was a Acedemic Visitor at Oxford University, History Faculty CWW program, between Agust 2010 –May 2011. Dr. Özcan, also wrote several columns and opinion pieces for different newspapers and appeard on several TV programmes. Dr.Özcan is the author of the book “Kurdistan Workers Party: History, Ideology and Methods” (in Turkish). He has authored several articles in prestigious journals on the Kurdish issue, PKK terrorism, Turkish politics and Middle Eastern Politics.
