Metin Yücekaya earned his bachelor’s degree in International Relations from TOBB
University of Economics and Technology in 2011. That same year, he began his master’s
studies in International Relations at Middle East Technical University (METU), where he
completed the program in 2014. He went on to pursue a PhD in the same department, which
he successfully completed in 2024.His doctoral dissertation explores middle power alignment
strategies through a realist lens, focusing on three key historical cases: The Ottoman Empire,
the Japanese Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy in the late 19th century. As part of his doctoral
research, he was awarded a TÜBİTAK scholarship and spent the 2019–2020 academic year
conducting research at the University of North Carolina in the United States. YÜCEKAYA
began his academic career as a research assistant at Aksaray University in 2011and later
continued his professional career at METU until 2017. He currently serves at Ankara Social
Sciences University (ASBÜ) as an assistant professor. His main research interests include
alliance theories and politics, systemic approaches to international security, European and
Mediterranean security, Turkish foreign policy, and the role of great and middle powers in
global politics.