International Conference
January 29-31, 2009
Social Sciences Building
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw (Atlanta suburb), Georgia, US

Mark R. Parris is Counselor to the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution, where he is a Visiting Fellow.  A retired career diplomat, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey from 1997 to2000.

Prior to his service in Turkey, Ambassador Parris held senior positions responsible for U.S. policy toward the Middle East and former Soviet Union.  As Principal Deputy Assistant of State for Near East Affairs and then Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian affairs, he oversaw U.S. efforts to contain Iraq and Iran and participated in top-level negotiations involving Israel and its Arab neighbors.   As Deputy Chief of Mission in Tel Aviv he witnessed the first intifada, the first Gulf War, and the Madrid Peace Conference.  As Director of Soviet Affairs during President Ronald Reagan's second term, he organized and served as note-taker for President Reagan's first four summit meetings with Mikhail Gorbachev.  Earlier assignments included Moscow, Lisbon and the Azores.

After retiring from the Foreign Service in 2001, Ambassador Parris worked as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor in the Washington office of Baker Donelson, a law firm.  He has  remained active in matters relating to Turkey, serving as Chairman of the Board of the American Friends of Turkey, as the founding Chairman of the Advisory Board of the American Turkish Council, as Counselor to the Turkish Research Program of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and as Director of the “Turkey 2007” project at the Brookings Institution.  Ambassador Parris’s articles on Turkey and U.S. – Turkish relations have appeared inter alia in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune and Washington times.

CO-SPONSORS:

Kennesaw State University (http://www.kennesaw.edu/globalinstitute/annconf.htm)

Istanbul Center (http://www.istanbulcenter.org/)

United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (http://www.unaoc.org/)

Links

Institute for Global Initiatives, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Rd., #2301
Willingham Hall, #23, Room 230, Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591
www.kennesaw.edu/globalinstitute/ ● Phone: 678-797-2569 ● Fax: 770-499-3430