Zenonas Tziarras is a Lecturer in the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus. He holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick (UK), specializing in Turkish foreign policy under the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He earned a BA in Mediterranean Studies from the University of the Aegean (Greece) and an MA in International Relations and Strategic Studies from the University of Birmingham (UK). Zenonas has collaborated extensively with universities and research institutes in Cyprus and abroad and previously served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cyprus, focusing on Turkish foreign policy. Among other publications he authored Turkish Foreign Policy: The Lausanne Syndrome in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (Springer, 2022), and co-edited The “New Turkey” in the Broader Middle East: Reflections on International Relations Theory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). Nikos Moudouros is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cyprus. He holds a BA in Turkish Studies from the University of Cyprus, an MA in Turkish Studies from SOAS (University of London), and a PhD in Turkish Studies from the University of Cyprus. He completed his postdoctoral research in the same department, examining the transformation of relations between Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot community. Dr. Moudouros is the author of State of Exception in the Mediterranean: Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot Community (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), alongside numerous other publications on Turkish politics and regional dynamics.