Mission and objectives

The Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) was established in January 2009 to inform the general public and the foreign policy community on the Middle East. ORSAM is a nonpartisan and non-profit research center based in Ankara.

ORSAM aims to diversify sources of information on the Middle East and expose the Turkish academia and political circles to the perspectives of researchers from the region. ORSAM, by facilitating the visits of Middle Eastern statesmen, bureaucrats, academics, strategists, businessmen, journalists, and NGO representatives to Turkey, seeks to ensure their knowledge and ideas are shared with the Turkish and international community. To that end, ORSAM carries out research on social, economic and political developments in the Middle East (with focus on Syria, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon) and shares these with the public.

ORSAM, seeking to contribute towards a healthier understanding and analysis of international politics and the Middle Eastern issues, produces stimulating and policy-relevant information for the general public and decision-makers; hence aims to contribute to decision-making processes. Toward that objective, ORSAM offers projections that involve alternative solutions to regional issues, as well as analyzing regional developments.