Pleased to share that @ulaserdogdu.bsky.social's article was shortlisted for the Cedric Smith Prize, which recognizes outstanding peace and conflict research by a PhD candidate 🎉 Ulaş's article, published in Review of International Studies, is available open access here doi.org/10.1017/S026...

Leadership decapitation in civil war: Leadership arrest and the negotiations between the state and the insurgents | Review of International Studies | Cambridge Core

Leadership decapitation in civil war: Leadership arrest and the negotiations between the state and the insurgents

doi.org

Our PI @efetokdemir.bsky.social and predoc fellow @ulaserdogdu.bsky.social attended the Conflict Research Society Annual Conference at the University of Glasgow on 9–10 Sept. They presented their ongoing work on foreign policy and public opinion, and rebel social origins and dynamics of civil war.

Our postdoctoral fellow, @yusufevirgen.bsky.social, presented his research titled “From Reports to Data: Harnessing LLMs for Fine-Grained Human Rights Data Collection” at the 2026 Annual Meeting of @apsa.bsky.social, held in Boston, USA, on September 3–6, 2026.

👋 Meet @senayngn.bsky.social, a pre-doctoral researcher. A 3rd-year PhD candidate in IR at Bilkent, Sena studies international status hierarchies & second-tier states, currently specializing in the role of domestic politics in status-seeking strategies. See our website for details!

👋 Meet @gizemkaya.bsky.social, predoctoral researcher. Gizem is a PhD candidate in International Relations at Bilkent University. She studies civilian mobilization during armed conflict and peace processes, specializing in computational and geospatial methods.

👋 Meet @ulaserdogdu.bsky.social , pre-doctoral researcher. A PhD candidate in Political Science at Northwestern, Ulaş studies political violence, civil wars & social science methodology. On COUNSTER, he brings deep expertise in conflict data & multi-method design. See our website for details!

👋 Meet Dr. Leo Bauer, post-doc fellow. Leo studies political violence & civil war, from rebel–civilian relations to the roots of rebel groups. He joins COUNSTER from the University of Maryland, blending qualitative & computational methods. Head over to our website for details on his research!

👋 Meet Dr. @yusufevirgen.bsky.social , post-doctoral fellow. Yusuf studies state repression, coups & human rights, combining big-data methods with elite interviews & fieldwork. He joins COUNSTER from Binghamton University (SUNY). Head over to our website for details on his research!

Our PI @efetokdemir.bsky.social and his co-authors @aslicansunar.bsky.social and Arzu Kibris have received the @apsa.bsky.social MENA Section’s 2025 Best Paper Award for their paper, “Ethnic Cues and Conflict-Triggered Harassment: Evidence from Soccer Fields.” Congratulations!🎉

Meet the COUNSTER team! Led by @efetokdemir.bsky.social our team brings together postdoctoral and predoctoral researchers with expertise spanning conflict studies, computational social science, and fieldwork. With our incoming team member, Leo Bauer, the picture will be complete soon!

🚀 The COUNSTER project website is now live: counster-project.com Curious about what we're building? Head over to our website to explore the project's aims, meet the team, and see what's ahead!

The project COUNSTER aims to explain why, how, and when governments target the constituents of non-state armed actors (NSAAs), and what determines the success or failure of these government-constituency relations as a strategic tool in counterinsurgency.

The project COUNSTER aims to explain why, how, and when governments target the constituents of non-state armed actors (NSAAs), and what determines the success or failure of these government-constituency relations as a strategic tool in counterinsurgency.

Welcome to the official page of COUNSTER, a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project hosted at Bilkent University for five years. Follow us to keep up with the project's research, fieldwork, and findings, and keep an eye out for the launch of our website.