Over a million refugees flooded to Europe in 2015 alone, and still more have arrived in the first few months of 2016. Refugees come from areas as diverse as the Balkans, West and South Asia, and Africa, and they traverse through the hazardous Mediterranean Sea and Southeastern Europe to seek asylum. The massive influx of people into Europe has caused a multitude of challenges for the European Union, including which refugees to accept, how to patrol borders, and where to relocate refugees. Join the Consul General of Germany, Dr. Herbert Quelle, and Professor Hakan Karateke for the Diplomatic Encounters Series’ discussion about the refugee crisis in Europe.

Consul General Herbert Quelle was born in 1953 in Herford, Germany. He has been the German Consul General in Chicago since July, 2014.

Professor Hakan Karateke is the cultural historian of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey at the University of Chicago. He completed his doctorate degree in Ottoman and Turkish Studies in Germany.

With this discussion, The Diplomatic Encounters Series aims to better connect the UChicago community with representatives of diplomatic missions from around Chicago and across the nation. The series aims to provide a venue to hear from leading diplomats, engage them in open dialogue, and come to a better understanding of the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing countries around the world.

Free and open to the public. This event is sponsored by the Global Voices Lecture Series, the Institute of Politics, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the Chicago Consular Corps.