Sam Brownback served as Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom from February 2018 to January 2021. He served as Governor of Kansas from 2011 to 2018. Prior to that he represented his home state in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. While a member of the Senate, he worked actively on the issue of religious freedom in multiple countries and was a key sponsor of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. Prior to his public service, Ambassador Brownback practiced law and taught agricultural law at Kansas State University. He earned a B.S. from Kansas State University and a J.D. from the University of Kansas. Ambassador Brownback currently serves as co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit and is a Senior Fellow at Global Christian Relief. He is also chairman of the National Committee for Religious Freedom. He and his wife Mary have five children and 10 grandchildren.
Emin Bayramli, a native of Azerbaijan, became a staunch advocate for human rights and justice within his native country after the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of his father, Gubad Ibadoghlu. His father had been actively engaged in fighting corruption within Azerbaijan. As a result of his father's arrest, Bayramli became deeply involved in various advocacy efforts, dedicating significant time and effort to advocating for his release. This has included active participation in campaigns, engagements with policymakers on Capitol Hill, combating misinformation propagated by Azerbaijani authorities, and contributing to the development of legislative bills and resolutions aimed at addressing Azerbaijan's human rights violations. He is currently a student at Rutgers University, where he is a Senior majoring in statistics. Bayramli has committed himself to the pursuit of justice and the protection of human rights with the hope of seeing meaningful change in Azerbaijan.
Sinan Ciddi is a non-resident senior fellow at FDD and an expert on Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy. He is also an Associate Professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (MCU). Prior to joining MCU, Sinan was the Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University (2011-2020). Between 2008-2011 he established the Turkish Studies program at the University of Florida’s Center for European Studies. He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Sinan was born in Turkey and educated in the United Kingdom. He was previously an instructor at Sabanci University between 2004-2008 and completed his Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the same institution between 2007-2008. Distinct from his articles and opinion editorials, his book titled Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, January 2009) focuses on the electoral weakness of the Republican People’s Party. He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2007 in the field of Political Science. He continues to author scholarly articles, opinion pieces and book chapters on contemporary Turkish politics and foreign policy, as well as participate in media appearances.
