He was born in Dörtyol (Ocaklı) in Hatay at 30.12.1953. He graduated from the Secondary school of Antakya High School. Afterwards, he graduated from Naval Lycee in Istanbul, in 1971, Naval Academy in 1974, Naval War College in Istanbul in 1983. German Staff College (Fuehrungsakademie) in Hamburg, in 1991. He was commanding officer of two ships, namely TCG Demirhisar and TCG Berk. After the many missions by Turkish Navy and Turkish General Staff he was charged as a naval attaché in Germany (at that time one year Doyen of Naval Attaché Associate  “Marine Attacheverband”), the chief of staff in the Mediterranean Region Command and Flotilla Commodore by Navy in Mersin. He served as Director of Turkish-Greek relations by General Staff. He worked as the Dean of the Naval Academy (Deniz Harp Okulu) between 2001 and 2003. While he was a lecturer in National Security Academy, he retired willingly on 30.03.2004.

 

He earned his PHD in 1993 and became associate professor in 2002. He lectured in Bilkent University between 2004-2007. He has been working as thesis advisor (mentor) in Ufuk University international relations programme since 2008. He has also been lecturing in political science and international relations department of Baskent University and also in National Security Academy since 2009. He worked on projects like “Package of Confidence Building Measures on Turkish-Greek Relations”, a special history group of Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and also worked as a member of several military-political working groups of Turkish General Staff (SAREM, ATAREM, General Assembly of Military History Commission).

 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yavuz is the vice president of Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Analysis (TÜRKSAM). He is married to Mrs Birgül and has two children (Hasan Can-1991, Ayşegül-1995). He speaks English and German.

 

His main area of interest is Security Policy and in this context he works mostly on Middle East-East Mediterranean, problems between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus, piracy and terrorism, Black Sea Basin and Germany as well as geopolitics and strategy.

 

Many of his articles were published on newspapers, journals and web sites on international relations and security policy. He wrote 15 independent and joint publications. Here are some of his publications:

 

 1- Avrasya’da Türk Jeopolitiği: Türklere Açılan Geniş Ufuklar (Turkish Geopolitics of Eurasia: Broad Horizons offered to Turks), Ankara, 2010

2- Atatürk ve Almanya (Ataturk and Germany), Ankara, 2010

3-Dörtyol: Tarihi ve Geleceğinin İnşası: (Dörtyol: The Reconstruction of History and Future), Ankara, 2010

4-Geçmişten Geleceğe Suriye-Türkiye İlişkileri (The Relations between Turkey and Syria from the Past to the Future), Ankara, 2005

5- Andlaşmalarla Yunanistan’a Devredilmemiş Ada, Adacık ve Kayalıkların Hukuki Statüleri de Dahil Menteşe Adaları (Oniki Adalar)’nın Tarihi (The History of the Dodokanes (Oniki Adalar) Including the Legal Statuses of the Rockies, Islets and Islands which are not Transferred to the Greek by Treaties), İstanbul, 2003

6-Askeri Strateji Ders Notu (textbook-note of Military Strategy), İstanbul, 2003

7-Osmanlı Bahriyesinde Yabancı Misyonlar (Foreign Missions in the Ottoman Navy), İstanbul, 2000