Dr. Anu Leinonen started as a researcher in FIME in June 2019. Previously, in 2008-2019, she worked as the Executive of the Foundation for the Finnish Institute in the Middle East and for four years as the coordinator of the Finnish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation.
Her post doc project investigates language policies and debates over those language policies in Turkey from 2011 onward. She is especially interested how the arrival of 3,5 million Syrian refugees, and public services offered to them in Arabic, have influenced language policies and debates over them.
Anu received her PhD in Middle Eastern studies in the University of Helsinki in 2017. Her dissertation investigated how Kurds’ political and cultural demands were presented in the Turkish-language mainstream press in 1999–2009. She received her master’s degree in Central Asian studies in 2003.
Published 6.9.2019