Göktuğ Kara graduated from TED Ankara College in 1994. Mr Kara enrolled to international relations department of Bilkent University with scholarship. After his graduation, he was awarded British Chevening scholarship to continue his studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science University. He graduated with success in 1999 and wrote a thesis on the possible repercussions of Turkey’s exclusion from the EU enlargement process. Despite obtaining a scholarship and acceptance for a PhD study at the LSE, he preferred to return to Turkey in 2000 and started working for BOTAS, the State Pipeline Corporation of Turkey. In his assignment, Mr Kara coordinated the implementation of host government agreement related to the execution of the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline Project in Turkey. Currently he is working at the Delegation of the European Union to Ankara, responsible programme manager for the transport policy and infrastructure investments. He is also a part time academic member of the international relations department of the Bilkent University delivering a lecture on sustainable development and climate change. Mr Kara has so far been instrumental in upholding many reforms in the transport sector to align with the EU policies. Mr Kara holds a PhD in international relations from the Bilkent University. He studied Russia’s transformation in the post-Cold War period with a particular focus on the energy sector and its relationship to the Russian foreign policy engagements.