Barry Rubin is the Director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center; a senior fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism and Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. He is the editor of the journal Turkish Studies; the editor of The Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA). His many books include The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (2005), Hating America: A History (2004) and The Tragedy of the Middle East (2002).

Birol Yesilada is Professor of Political Science and International Studies and holder of the Contemporary Turkish Studies Chair at Portland State University. He is co-editor-in-chief of International Studies Perspectives. He is the author of Comparative Political Parties and Party Elites and co-editor of The Political and Socioeconomic Transformation of Turkey.