Since the 1970s he has taught Chinese and Turkish history, political ideologies and geopolitics at a number of universities in the West.[20] His plethora of books have been translated in many languages, while articles concerning his work have been published in Chinese, the Balkan languages, German, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.[21] He also taught at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, where he had as a student, the future prime minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu.[22] Kitsikis is considered to have had a decisive influence, on Davutoğlu's geopolitical theory.[23]