Nebahat Tanrıverdi Yaşar is Head of the Middle East Program at the Strategic Security Initiative (SSI). Her work focuses on Turkish foreign and security policy, Middle Eastern security, regional order, conflict dynamics, defence cooperation, and Turkey’s engagement across the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. Her research examines how Turkey’s diplomacy, security assistance, and defence partnerships intersect with regional conflicts, external actor competition, and evolving transatlantic security debates.

She is currently a CATS Visiting Fellow in Berlin an expert at **Human Security Solutions**, a freelance researcher and policy analyst. She has previously held fellowships at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), including as a CATS Fellow and an IPC–Stiftung Mercator Fellow; had contributed to “Turkey-Iraq Relations: Opportunities and Tensions in Security and Connectivity” Project by Middle East Technical University (METU) between 2024-2025; and coordinate the Project on Foreign Terrorist Fighters in Syria: Trends and Projections, with Prof. Dr. Serhat Erkmen, Ankara (2017 – 2018).

Before that, Nebahat worked as a senior researcher and researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) in Ankara, where she focused on Middle East and North Africa, and Turkey’s regional policy. She has also contributed to NATO-related research and workshop processes, including as rapporteur for the Women in Terrorism and Counterterrorism Workshop Series at the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism.

Nebahat publishes widely on Turkish foreign policy, Middle Eastern security, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Turkey-NATO relations, defence cooperation, and regional conflict dynamics. Her recent work has examined Turkey’s role across the Middle East and North Africa and its implications for Europe.

She holds an MSc in Middle Eastern Studies from Middle East Technical University and a BSc in International Relations from Hacettepe University.