Mehmet Rakipoglu holds a PhD from Sakarya University’s Middle East Institute, where he studied hedging in Saudi foreign policy. He previously served as a non-resident fellow at ORSAM and participated in the Erasmus+ program at Szczecin University in Poland. His research covers hedging theory, Gulf foreign policy, Türkiye–Gulf relations, and political Islam. Rakipoglu edited the book International Muslim Brotherhood and regularly appears on Al Jazeera Arabic, RT, China Daily, and TRT Arabic. He speaks English and Arabic and has conducted fieldwork across Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Sudan.