Defne (Sadıklar) Arslan is among the leaders of the Council since she joined in 2015, and senior director and founder of the Atlantic Council IN TURKEY program & Turkey programs center, as well as Council’s global work related to Turkey and its surrounding region. Mrs. Arslan also serves as the Council’s regional representative with a specific focus on Turkey.
Arslan is known to be a key regional energy expert and financial economist with her policy work and wide network.
Mrs. Arslan is a former banker who started her career in Istanbul, where she successfully launched the early operations of an international bank. She expanded her experience also working as financial journalist and columnist for a financial/economic newspaper during the course. Upon receiving scholarship for her studies in finance, she lived and studied in the U.K early 90’s. During the same period, she was also honored with an Erasmus grant to work on her dissertation in Siena, Italy on the European banking system. Mrs. Arslan also worked at the Turkish International Cooperation Agency, where she was responsible for project financing in the CIS Countries during her time in Turkey.
Mrs. Arslan joined State Department through the U.S. Embassy in Ankara in late 90’s as the senior economist responsible for monitoring the IMF/WB programs in Turkey. She added energy sector and policy into her portfolio in the 2000s. Since then, she has acted among the key interlocutors on local and regional energy policies including the TANAP project, Iraqi energy, East Med and other regional economic and energy issues. She was the chief Turkey economist and senior energy advisor as she has left for the Atlantic Council late 2014 to become the Director of the Energy and Economy Summit of the Atlantic Council. Arslan founded Council’s Turkey center in 2018, and the center has become one of the most influential think thank programming on Turkey and its surrounding region based both in Istanbul and Washington DC.
Arslan also has advised international investors on nuclear projects in Turkey.
Starting her early education in Tokyo, Arslan studied MBA and MA in banking and finance. She received a BSc degree in Economics from Middle East Technical University (METU).
She has been awarded with several grants and awards throughout her career and education.
Arslan speaks fluent English, and Turkish, and some Italian, French and basic Japanese.
