Dear Colleagues and Students,

The Asian Studies Center and the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Boğaziçi University are pleased to invite you to the following event:

Across the Sea from Russia: Russian-Japanese and Russian-Turkish Bilateral Relations in Comparative Historical Perspective

Yaroslav Shulatov
Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics
Waseda University, Tokyo

In conversation with:

Selçuk Esenbel
Professor Emeritus and Honorary Chairperson, Asian Studies Center, Boğaziçi University

Onur İşçi
Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Boğaziçi University

Samuel J. Hirst
Associate Professor, Department of International Relations, Bilkent University

Date: Friday, 25 September 2026
Time: 17:00
Venue: İİBF 301, Boğaziçi University

Abstract: Competing territorial claims, regional rivalry, and economic interdependence: Japan’s and Turkey’s bilateral relations with Russia share various features. This event will begin with a historical overview of Japanese-Russian relations and follow with a conversation that will draw on comparisons with Turkish-Russian relations. Together, the participants will seek to identify recurring patterns and defining dynamics.

About the Speaker: Yaroslav Shulatov is a Professor in the Faculty of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University in Tokyo. He received a PhD in History from Khabarovsk State Pedagogical University and a second PhD in Law from Keio University. He has written on Japanese-Russian relations for a wide range of publications, including several chapters for the 2019 volume A History of Russo-Japanese Relations: Over Two Centuries of Cooperation and Competition (Brill). His primary areas of interest are military and diplomatic history from the late nineteenth through the middle of the twentieth century.

All interested faculty members and students are warmly invited to attend.

Asian Studies Center
Department of Political Science and International Relations
Boğaziçi University