“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights;
it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
(Mary Ritter Beard)
- Merhaba!
Hello, everyone. My name is Nilyufar Abdulatova; being a member of a research team of Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT), I had a chance to spend few months in one of the most beautiful countries, Turkey, within the framework of the project (Central Asian Law: Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia: 870647). Using this blog post as an opportunity, let me share my experience about research and life in Turkey, particularly in Istanbul, where I was hosted as a research fellow by the friendly academic team of Marmara University.
To begin with, let me provide a brief overview of my research project. My research focuses on the energy sector, one of the underresearched topics in the context of Uzbekistan, particularly from a legal perspective. The need for empirically-grounded research on this topic is high considering the recent legal and political reforms in the energy sector of Uzbekistan. In this respect, my research project on “The Principle of Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources as a Booster of Legal Accountability and Transparency Norms in the Energy Sector” is very timely and addresses the research gap regarding the principles of good governance in natural resources management in Uzbekistan. My secondment at Marmara University provided me with unique opportunities to further develop and fully concentrate on my research: to collect primary data, meet experts, academics, and use facilities of partner universities.
2. Research stay on two continents or cats lovers’ paradise.
During the research stay in Istanbul, my everyday reality is suspended for two months. Being located in Istanbul, the significant distance from lecturing and teaching responsibilities, produces a relaxed environment. This allows me to explore a new international academic environment, experience a different part of the world (I lived in the European part and worked in the Asian part of Istanbul), and meet new people. The çay (tea) breaks, nice talks and never repeated walks around the city inspired me to work on my research project with full enthusiasm and passion. There was no need to wait for inspiration because the inspiration was my satellite.
Because the inspiration is Istanbul – the city of universal beauty. You do not track time when you live and work in the cat lovers’ paradise (it is indeed the second name of this city). The same happened to me. Whenever I had a conversation with an expert at the Marmara University campus or an interview via Zoom with officials from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Oslo, Norway), there was magic in the air of Istanbul. Of course, precautionary measures because of the Covid – 19 brought corrections to some plans related to the empirical part of the research. Still, the theoretical approach was not impacted under the sky of the Bosphorus, the meeting point of two different seas.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the project people (Dr. Rustam Urinboyev, Ms. Chekhros Kilichova and others) who made the research stay real and contributed to my research. I am pleased to convey my appreciation to Prof. Dr. Erhan Dogan and his team for providing all the necessary facilities to conduct my research in the most comfortable environment. Also, I would like to thank our WIUT research team (Mr. Alisher Pulatov, Mr. Khasan Sayfutdinov and Ms. Dildora Karimova) for their invaluable support during the research stay. They made this stay even more colourful and remarkable.
