Benan Kepsutlu En

Benan Kepsutlu graduated from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yeditepe University and the Department of Radio, TV, and Cinema at the same university. She completed her Italian language education at the Romenica School in Modena, Italy. Specializing in the Middle East, she pursued her master’s degree at the Middle East Research Institute of Marmara University. Kepsutlu continued her doctoral studies as a special student in the Department of Middle Eastern Political History and International Relations at the same institute. During this time, her academic work titled “U.S. Policy in the Middle East: From 1990 to the Present, From President to President” was published as her first book. Her second book, “Confessions Hidden in the Archive,” is the first and only book awarded by the Turkish Archivists Association.
During her time as a reporter at Kanal D News and CNN Türk under Mehmet Ali Birand, Kepsutlu was accepted into BBC News in London to receive training in television journalism. She established the Erbil bureau for TRT TÜRK and became its first representative. In 2010, she transferred to Habertürk as a News Editor and Program Host. During her time as a reporter and presenter, she contributed to nearly 30 news reports and special features published as “First in the World” and “First in Turkey.” She prepared and presented the morning program on A Haber during its initial period and later produced and hosted the Agenda Program on Habertürk, also working as a news anchor. Between 2019 and 2021, Kepsutlu wrote columns and conducted exclusive interviews for the Independent / Turkish service. Currently, she is the producer, editor, and host of the program “Agenda with Benan Kepsutlu,” which airs on Haber Global.
In her role, Kepsutlu has worked in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Egypt during wartime. She has also been involved in critical processes in Armenia, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Romania, Malaysia, and Kyrgyzstan.
She has conducted exclusive interviews and discussions with numerous leaders and politicians, including Fuad Masum (President of Iraq), Esma Assad (First Lady of Syria), Jalal Talabani (President of Iraq), Massoud Barzani (Leader of the Kurdish Regional Government), Yevgeny Primakov (Prime Minister of Russia), Berham Salih (Prime Minister of the Kurdish Regional Government), Abdullah Abdullah (Vice President of Afghanistan), Mikheil Saakashvili (President of Georgia), Rahim Mashaei (Vice President of Iran), Mahmoud Qureshi (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan), Mahmoud al-Zahar (Leader of Hamas), Tariq al-Hashimi (Vice President of Iraq), Kurmanbek Bakiyev (President of Kyrgyzstan), JT Thomson (NATO Land Forces Commander), Ahmed Mukhtar (Minister of Defense of Pakistan), Theodoros Pangalos (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece), Adel Bin Zaid Al-Toraifi (Minister of Information of Saudi Arabia), General David Rodriguez (U.S. General responsible for Afghanistan), Richard Holbrooke (Advisor to the U.S. Administration on Afghanistan and Pakistan), Adahan Madumarov (Vice President of Kyrgyzstan), Victor Ponta (Prime Minister of Romania), Sulamu Haqqani (Leader of the Haqqani Network), Michael Rubin (Middle East Advisor to the George W. Bush Administration), Usama Nujeifi (Iraq’s Sunni Leader, Vice President), Igor Cudinov (Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan), and Jiri Sedivy (NATO Deputy Secretary-General).
In addition to her journalist identity, Benan Kepsutlu has also worked as an academic in the field of international relations and provides media and strategic communication consultancy at NATO headquarters under CNK Global. She also owns a production company called Asia Yapım Prodüksiyon, which operates internationally.