From Land Disputes to Sustainable Environmental Development

Prof. Dr. Mehmet was born in 1938 in Nicosia. He graduated from LSE and had his PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto. He became professor in Labor Economics and published more than twenty books. He has many articles published in internationally refereed journals. Prof Mehmet received many awards and served as Emeritus Professor at Carleton University. He is the founding Rector of International Final University of Cyprus. He is the co-author of the books, i.e., "Islands in Maritime Disputes: Greek Turkish Geo-Politics (2022)", “Modern Geopolitics of Eastern Mediterranean Hydrocarbons in an Age of Energy Transformation (2020)”, and “The Southern Energy Corridor: Turkey’s Role in European Energy Security (2018)”. Prof Mehmet is an author of recently published book, “Islamic Identity and Developments after the Ottomans: The Arab Middle East”. Other than academic books, he has four novels, such as “Uzun Ali: Shame and Salvation”, “Angelinas Treasure”, “Relocations”, and “The Saint of Tulmen” and he also wrote an autobiography. Professor Mehmet sadly, passed away on 13 November 2023.

Prof. Yorucu was born in 1970 in Nicosia. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Leicester in 1998. He started teaching at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus, as Assistant Professor of Economics in 1998. He became Associate Professor in Development and International Economics in 2009. He became Full Professor in 2015. In addition to his academic career, he served for five years as Chief Economic Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Finance in Nicosia. He served as Visiting Scholar at the College of Europe-Brugge Campus (Belgium) during 2013–2017 summer and at Norman Paterson School of International Affairs-Carleton University, Ottawa, during summer 2018. He has published many articles in leading international refereed journals in the field of economic development, construction economics, energy policy, energy economics and applied econometrics. He is co-author of books published by Springer Publishing Inc: “Southern Energy Corridor: The Role of Turkey in European Energy Security (2018)” and “Modern Geopolitics of Eastern Mediterranean Hydrocarbons in an Age of Energy Transformation (2020), and "Islands in Maritime Disputes: Greece Turkey Geo-Political Relations (2022)". Besides academic position at EMU, he is serving as Chief Economic Advisor to the President and Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus. He is the Chair of Bi-communal Technical Committee of Economics and Commercial Affairs of North Cyprus, which is facilitated by the UN.