Ali Arslan Gurkan

Born in Çanakkale, Turkey on September 14, 1946.
Married, with two children.
Citizen of the Republic of Turkey.

Leeds University, Leeds, U.K., Ph.D. in Economics, 1972-1979.

Ph.D. Thesis: A Statistical Evaluation of Some Selected Aspects of Agricultural Price Policies in Turkey: 1950-1973.

Leeds University, Leeds, U.K., M.A. in Agricultural Economics,

Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, B.Sc. in Economics and Statistics,
1965-1968.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Although my main profession has been that of a university professor during most of my working life, I have concurrently undertaken extensive consultancy assignments with international organisations, such as the World Bank and FAO, various governmental bodies in Turkey, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Planning Organisation, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, the State Hydraulic Works, as well as non-governmental organisations. A significant number of these consultancy assignments were concentrated in the fields of sectoral, trade and policy analyses, with particular emphasis on model building, estimation and simulation to analyse macro and microeconomic impacts of sectoral and trade policies. Other assignments ranged from providing financial analysis of private initiatives in the agribusiness sector to building financial models for evaluating economic viability of irrigation and land consolidation schemes undertaken by official bodies in Turkey.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

Chief, Basic Foodstuffs Service, August 2000-present.

Senior Commodity Specialist, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Basic Foodstuffs Service, January 1996- August 2000.

Senior Economist, FAO, Food Security Service, September 1993 - January 1996 and Global Perspective Studies Unit, Rome, Italy, May 1991- September 1993.

Associate Professor, Texas Tech University, Economics Department, Lubbock, U.S.A., September 1988-May 1991 and Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics, Ankara, Turkey, 1986-August 1990.

Assistant Professor, Middle East Technical University, Department of Economics, Ankara, Turkey, 1980-1986.

PUBLICATIONS:

I have over 20 papers published in refereed journals, 5 chapters in books published in England, Holland and the U.S.A.; 15 research notes and/or monographs published as working papers. I have presented 5 papers in international conferences; and more than 20 research reports to various international agencies, including the FAO, the World Bank, ICARDA, Rockefeller Foundation, and  MEAWARDS, and governmental agencies, including the Ministry of  Agriculture, State Planning Organization, Soil and Water Conservation Bureau.

The main thrust of my previous research effort was concentrated in sectoral and policy analysis as applied to the Turkish economy, but at various times dealt with issues related to aging, women's participation in economic activity in rural and urban areas, international debt, food aid and food security, and I currently lead the Basic Foodstuffs Service covering broad commodity market and food policy issues at the national and global levels.