Samy Akil
Biography
Publications
Samy Akil is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies. He holds a Bachelor of International Relations (Honours) from La Trobe University, Melbourne, and a Master of Middle Eastern & Central Asian Studies from the Australian National University, Canberra. He has a strong interest in diplomacy, conflict resolution, humanitarian aid, and Middle Eastern Affairs, and Australian-MENA relations with a specific focus on Syria and the Levant as a whole. Samy is the co-founder and managing editor of the ANU based Near East Policy Forum and a non-resident research fellow at the Operations & Policy Center in Gaziantep, Turkey. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and German.
![How Turkey’s position on Ukraine is further destabilising Syria](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/2022-06/GettyImages-1241197057_0.jpeg?itok=EDk-aP4B)
How Turkey’s position on Ukraine is further destabilising Syria
Erdoğan wants sanctions relief and is forcing NATO leaders into making an uncomfortable choice.
![Why the Middle East matters to Australia](https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/styles/expert_publications/public/GettyImages-1210676097.jpg?itok=mWC5M2qN)
Why the Middle East matters to Australia
The region may not dominate in the way Southeast Asia or the Pacific does at present, but it has before and can again.