Yıldırım Çinar completed his bachelor's and master's degrees in International Relations at Akdeniz University. During his master's thesis phase, he studied at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Rennes in France. He obtained his PhD from the Department of International Relations at Kocaeli University. The title of his doctoral thesis is ‘The Relationship Between State Building and Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Nigeria and Boko Haram’. The author currently serves as Co-Director at the TASAM Africa Institute. Fluent in English and French, his main areas of expertise include Regional Studies, Turkey-Africa Relations, African Studies, Security Issues in Africa, Security Studies, Radicalism and Terrorism. Yıldırım Çinar has authored numerous articles and book chapters and is among the editors of two books: ‘African Policy: The Quest for Security, Prosperity and Democracy in the 21st Century’ and ‘Global Actors and Great Power Competition’. In addition, the author continues to contribute to national and international press on African issues and to work on various projects.