UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM TURKIYE'S FOREIGN MINISTER
By Busra Nur Cakmak and Iclal Turan
ANKARA (AA) - Over one-third of the world is being represented at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Turkiye's foreign minister said Friday.
The event has gathered participants from 75 countries, including 17 heads of state, 80 ministers, and 39 representatives of international organizations, Mevlut Cavusoglu said in his opening address at Antalya Diplomacy Forum, of which Anadolu Agency is the global communications partner.
The Antalya Diplomacy Forum, convened under the theme of “Recoding Diplomacy,” will address the challenges of the next years, he said, adding it is the product of Turkiye’s enterprising and humanitarian foreign policy.
“We witnessed that almost everything we knew as constant, changes. And every negative event we would like to leave behind reappears in different shapes,” said Cavusoglu adding “Our call for a fairer world, that global order and diplomacy at the service of justice, law, prosperity and peace brings us together here today.”
Cavusoglu said that, as foreseen by Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the UN General Assembly in 2017, “We are facing the threat of falling into a new way of chaos and cruelty.”
We are at a point where history is back and where our gains as humanity are falling apart, said Cavusoglu.
“The philosopher said history is lived forward, but can only be understood by looking backwards. Those of us in here need to develop sound predictions for tomorrow and robust policies for today,” he added.
"In the coming years, we will have to tackle the risk of the post-colonial system crumbling in the entire world. This would be a catastrophe because the existing institutions and mechanisms are already unable to meet our needs," said Cavusoglu.
"For instance, eruption of conflicts cannot be prevented. And the ongoing ones cannot be resolved," he added.
With global inequality further deepening, there is a need to resolve emerging tensions, manage change, facilitate adaptation, and promote cooperation, the Turkish foreign minister said.
Also needed is “a new language and a new understanding through digital capabilities. We need to spread messages in the most convincing manner while fighting against disinformation,” he further said.
“But most importantly, we need to put diplomacy at the service of peace and development.”
- Recoding diplomacy means 'relentless search' for peaceful settlement: Guterres
In a video message sent to the opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "There is only one way forward: dialogue and diplomacy."
He added: "Diplomacy is the essence of the spirit of the United Nation's charter."
The drafters of the charter witnessed the "unspeakable damage" caused by the World War II, according to Guterres.
"To prevent it from happening again, they've built a collective security system based on the fundamental idea that diplomacy always should come first," he added.
Speaking on the theme of the event, Guterres said recoding diplomacy means "first looking back".
"Recoding diplomacy also means looking forward and recognizing that diplomacy is a living process," he added.
"In these challenging times, recording diplomacy means a relentless and tireless search for peaceful solutions."