Burak Güneş graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of International Relations at Ankara University. Following graduation, he went to the United Kingdom to study for a master’s degree in 2011 with the Ministry of National Education Scholarship (YLSY). He studied international law at the University of Sussex Law School and completed his master’s degree with his thesis on private military companies and the responsibility of states. After his graduation, Güneş began work as a research assistant in the International Relations Department at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University in 2013. The same year, he enrolled as a Ph.D. student in the Middle East Technical University International Relations Department. He earned the title of Ph.D. in 2019 with his doctoral thesis entitled “International Law on States Arming Non-State Groups in the Other States.” He has worked as an assistant professor in the International Relations Department at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University since 2021.

Haldun Yalçınkaya is an academic at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at TOBB Economics and Technology University in Ankara / Turkey. Professor Yalçınkaya has been conducting research on Foreign Terrorist Fighters of DAESH and Countering Violent Extremism since 2014 and serving as an academic advisor for the different activities of the NATO Center of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism since 2019. He graduated from Kuleli Military High School and later Turkish Military Academy. During his military service as an officer, he completed his post-graduate studies in International Relations at İstanbul University. Dr.Yalçınkaya studied “peacekeeping” at MA level and “transformation of war” at Ph.D. level. After earning his Ph.D. degree, he had post-doctoral Research and joined the Changing Character of War Project in Oxford University between 2009-2010. Furthermore, during his military service, he served in Afghanistan in 2005. He published four books on war and terrorism issues and several academic articles/edited books/book chapters on International Security issues focusing on new actors of the battlefields as well as terrorism. After serving more than ten years at Turkish Military Academy he has been Professor in International Relations at TOBB University of Economics and Technology since 2013 and founder of Bodrum Institute.