Mahmut Aytekin

Mahmut Aytekin- Summary Mahmut Aytekin is currently a research analyst at the TRT World Research Center and a PhD student at Victoria University, Australia. His work includes researching and producing reports on topics and issues of international security and terrorism. He has had several of his articles published in the prominent Daily Sabah newspaper and the Anadolu Agency in Turkey. Mahmut holds a Bachelor in Islamic Theology and also a Masters of Arts (International Relations) from Deakin University in Australia with a focus on conflict and security. His Master’s dissertation involves a comparison of recruitment tactics of ISIL(DAESH) and the PKK based upon case studies constructed upon interviews and the utilization of narrative analysis. Mahmut is also in the initial stages of completing his Graduate Diploma in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at Macquarie University with a specialization in intelligence. Mahmut has also completed a Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Practice at the University of New England. Mahmut is bilingual and fluent in both English and Turkish with an intermediate level of Arabic. Mahmut also holds beginner level Kurdish and Hebrew. His background in Islamic theology and third-wave terrorism serves as a great foundation in understanding the mentality of violent groups within the Middle East region.  Education Roxburgh College High School Melbourne , Victoria Graduated December 2009 Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) received in 2009 from Roxburgh College. Subjects taken include LOTE Turkish, English, Mathematical Methods, Psychology and Legal Studies. Marmara University Bachelor Degree İstanbul Graduated June 2015 I completed a four year Bachelor of Islamic Theology at Marmara University with a year of foundation studies in classical and modern standard Arabic. Subjects covered include  Islamic and Western theology  World Religions (Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism etc.)  Islamic History History of philosophy  western philosophy  Sociology of religion  Psychology of religion   Islam within the modern world.  Two graduation thesis's were completed and titled' Islamophobia in Australia', and also 'Problems Muslim youth are facing in Australia'. Deakin University Master of Arts (International Relations) Melbourne , Victoria Graduated June 2017 Grade achieved: Distinction I’ve completed my Master of Arts (International Relations) with a major in security and conflict. My dissertation titled 'How do terrorist organizations recruit: A comparative case study of ISIL and the PKK' is the first study comparing the recruitment tactics of ISIL and the PKK. A comparative multiple embedded case study was conducted to determine what the motivations were in joining the organizations, what recruitment tactics were used towards their sympathizers, and what the processes of radicalization were for both organizations. My hypothesis was that a result of one terrorist organization being ethno-centric whilst the other being religiously motivated, recruitment tactics were going to be different, but a cross point was also going to be present in terms of recruitment and motivation. Five intersections and four deflections of recruitment were present. Macquarie University Graduate Diploma of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Sydney, New South Wales Enrolled September 2016 I am currently in the initial stages of completing my Graduate Diploma of Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism with a major focus in intelligence analysis. The subjects I have studied until now revolve around terrorist support networks and operations, modern intelligence analysis, foundations of modern intelligence, and terrorism studies. I aim to integrate and merge the theory of intelligence and terrorism networks and intelligence analysis with my fieldwork. University of New England Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Practice Armidale, New South Wales Graduated October, 2018 I have completed my Graduate Certificate in Mental Health Practice. The certificate is designed to give an in-depth study of intervention strategies and measures for mental health practice. Subjects include Mental Health in Australia, Intervention measures for Mental Health Practice and others. I plan to utilize the knowledge from here on in my academic work of radicalization, de-radicalization, terrorism rehabilitation and dis-engagement. Victoria University Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Australia Started Feb 2019 I’ve started my PhD in terrorism studies at Victoria university, specializing in radicalization, deradicalization and disengagement of third-wave terrorist organizations, primarily taking Turkey as a case study. My research involves a mixed methods approach by combining qualitative and quantitative research methods such as statistics, interviews and grounded theory. My research is currently within its initial stages, and will be expanded with data extracted from fieldwork. Certificates University of Queensland Certificate of the Psychology of Criminal Justice Queensland Completed April 2016 I’ve completed an online MOOC course in the psychology of criminal justice with the University of Queensland in Australia. I have studied the psychology of memory, criminal profiling methods including criminal investigative analysis, investigative psychology, geographic profiling and the common typology of criminal offenders. Other subjects include witness psychology with errors such as wrong time slicing and narrative construction also being studied. Finally ways to improve eye witness accounts have also been studied including minimizing bias and the using of sequential line-ups. NATO Center of Excellence – Defense against Terrorism Financial Aspects of Combating Terrorism Course Ankara Completed 03-07 April 2017 I’ve completed the course in Financial Aspects of Combating Terrorism run by the NATO Center of Excellence – Defense against Terrorism. Some of the subjects covered in the course include the legal sources of financing terrorism, terrorism financing typologies, international sanctions of financing terrorism, terror finance and the crime nexus, foreign fighters, financial sources of DAESH and the PKK and others. Ekman Group International Certificate of Behavioral Analysis (online) London Enrolled June 2017 I am currently on my way in completing my Certificate of Behavioral Analysis (online) with the Ekman Group International. The certificate program first involves understanding misconceptions of behavioral analysis with a special focus on telling lies. In the second phase of the program, behavioral analysis methodology for telling lies is taught based upon typologies present for six channels present in the human body such as micro-expressions, changes in pitch and voice and bodily gestures. Employment History INSAMER Humanitarian and Social Research Center Research Analyst January 2014 – April 2018 My research focused on international security and terrorism, majoring in ethnic and religious terrorist groups such as the PKK and ISIL, suicide bombings and the Middle East. Research methods literature review of international security and terrorism literature, and also the conducting of field work as well. I’ve utilized interviews and narrative analysis extensively. As well as research, I also work in coordinating the large scale of translation traffic of the center within three languages: English, Turkish and Arabic. Documents translated were proof read as well. Some of my work on radicalization, terrorism and the Muslim diaspora include: http://insamer.com/tr/terrorism-without-borders-isil-and-cyber-space_837.html http://insamer.com/tr/if-you-dont-defeat-the-ideology-can-you-defeat-terrorism_790.html http://insamer.com/tr/terrorism-or-not-that-is-the-question_742.html http://insamer.com/tr/daesh-islamophobia-and-relative-deprivation_640.html http://insamer.com/tr/the-reasons-of-suicide-attacks-and-counter-strategies_301.html http://insamer.com/tr/siber-alanda-modern-teror-yontemleri_255.html http://insamer.com/tr/kuresellesen-dunyada-ulusal-guvenlige-farkli-bir-tehdit-siber-saldirilar_251.html http://insamer.com/en/-the-point-of-no-return-suicide-bombers-amphetamines-and-the-ypgpkk_1213.html http://insamer.com/en/playing-to-the-hearts-and-minds-psychological-warfare-of-the-ypg-_1195.html http://insamer.com/en/black-white-and-grey-a-war-of-propaganda-and-operation-olive-branch_1188.html http://insamer.com/en/the-feminism-of-terrorism_1182.html http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2017/11/30/what-will-happen-to-daesh-advanced-analysis-paper/ http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2017/11/29/radicalisation-and-rehabilitation-do-foreign-fighters-coming-home-pose-a-threat-to-society/ http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2017/11/27/big-brother-sees-all-keeping-clandestine-cover-in-the-digital-age/ http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2017/08/07/the-intelligence-analyst-and-cognitive-biases/ http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2016/05/29/what-strategies-are-employed-by-cyber-terrorists-and-what-counter-strategies-can-be-applied-by-governments/ https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2018/01/22/de-pluralization-of-the-pkk-radicalization-pathways-mechanisms https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2018/02/08/the-threat-of-foreign-fighters-in-daesh-ypg-ranks TRT World Research Center Research Analyst May 2018 – Present I’m currently employed by the TRT World Research Center as a research analyst. I major in international terrorism issues and writing reports and op-eds based upon literature reviews and qualitative analysis techniques. My job is to writing briefing notes, policy reports, discussion papers and analysis pieces in regards to current terrorism trends in the region, and issues which may come about. The data I collect is generally used for research purposes or sent to the newsroom whereby it is used by correspondents and the newsroom itself to form strategy and present data to agency wires. I’ve also given qualitative research training regarding interviews and narrative/thematic analysis and grounded theory. Some of my work written includes: http://researchcentre.trtworld.com/publications/in-depth/what-does-the-snap-elections-hold-for-turkey-s-kurds http://researchcentre.trtworld.com/publications/in-depth/operation-manbij-what-is-what https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2018/06/29/future-syria-party-legitimizing-terrorism http://mahmutaytekin.net/index.php/2018/06/22/the-june-24-elections-the-ak-party-and-the-south-east-votes-the-ins-and-outs/ https://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2018/10/10/us-support-for-the-pkkypg-and-the-destabilization-of-the-middle-east http://insamer.com/en/the-privatization-of-intelligence-the-black-cube-case-_1761.html International/Local Conferences, workshops and papers I’ve attended a number of international and local conferences/workshops and presented papers. These include: G20 Interfaith Summit, November-, The Humanitarian Perspective of Diplomacy, Istanbul. Islamic Global Warming Summit, December 15 2015, Crises present within the Islamic World, Istanbul. Second European Islamophobia Summit, 24 June 2016, Islamophobia, Relative Deprivation and Extremism, Sarajevo Political and Security Summit, March 2017, Recruitment tactics and motivations ISIL, Sabanci University, Istanbul Middle East Crises Workshop, March 2017, The History of ISIL in Syria and Iraq, Sakarya University, Sakarya INSAMER Crisis Workshop, April 2017, ISIL: History, Modus Operandi and Ideology, Istanbul INSAMER Crisis Workshop, September 2017, The PKK and the Foreign Terrorist Fighter Phenomena, Istanbul Sharing Experiences of Promoting Regional Security and Business Connectivity in East and West Asia Summit, October 2017, ‘Designing new security mechanisms for the MENA region, Amman/Jordan Journal Articles Aytekin, M. (2019, forthcoming). Radicalization Processes of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism. 13(2). Hobbies & Interests I am a person who likes activities of both analytical and critical thinking including reading, writing articles and texts of both fiction and non-fiction, and playing chess. I've contributed Op-Ed articles to the prominent Daily Sabah Newspaper. Some of my articles include: http://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/2014/06/02/islamophobia-media-and-the-echochamber-effect http://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2015/04/24/our-youth-a-glimpse-of-the-future http://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/2014/07/21/myanmar-the-land-of-lost-hope http://www.dailysabah.com/op-ed/2015/08/31/and-your-masks-have-fallen http://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/2015/02/24/the-two-faces-of-humanity https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/2014/11/04/whats-happening-to-democracy-downunder I'm also am a great fan of martial arts and hold nine years of experience in taekwondo, with also two years of experience in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Greco-Roman wrestling.  Besides academic work and martial arts, I also love networking and travelling including having travel experiences to the Balkans, various Asian regions including Burma, Europe and the Middle East. Finally, group activities with my friends including paintball and airsoft are great hobbies.  Professional Skills Fieldwork: Expert Mindmapping: Expert Memory Techniques: Expert Speed Reading: Advanced Creativity: Expert Relationship Building: Expert Speaking foreign languages: Expert Public Speaking: Expert Quantitative Research : Intermediate Qualitative Research: Expert Report Writing: Expert Academic Writing: Expert Conference Organization: Expert Computer Office Skills: Expert Translation and Interpreting : Expert Languages Hebrew: Beginner Kurdish: Beginner Arabic: Intermediate (B1) (Currently taking online lessons with arabacademy.com) Turkish: Native English: Native (TOEFL IBT 2017: 109) References Dr. Ahmet Emin Dağ General Coordinator INSAMER Humanitarian and Social Research Center -- Asst. Prof. Şule Albayrak Prof. of Sociology of Religion Marmara University -- Dr. Tarek Cherkaoui Research Center Manager TRT World -- Meryem Ilayda Atlas Daily Sabah -- Ahu Özyurt CNN Türk --