LARGE FORMAT HERE
Nearly 20 Heads of State and Government as well as 4,000 participants from more than 100 countries are gathered in Türkiye, from March 1 to 3, 2024, as part of the 3rd Antalya Diplomatic Forum. Here, translated into French, are excerpts from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s opening speech.
“(…) “Putting diplomacy first in times of crisis”. This is how we determined the theme of the Forum this year. Considering the chaotic situation in world politics, we will understand how aptly this theme was chosen. As Humanity, we are truly going through a period of painful, troubled and endless crises. Not only in foreign policy, but also in many areas such as production, communication, management, art, commerce and technology where codes are broken. We hope that our debates can bring change and solutions to the current problems of humanity and will remedy hunger, poverty and underdevelopment.
« Unfortunately, we cannot yet speak of hope in this regard and, unfortunately, colonialism continues with new methods (…). Cultural racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia are spreading like a scourge in many parts of the world. The reality we face is that the 21st century, which we hoped would be a century of prosperity, peace, tranquility, peace and freedom, is becoming, on the contrary, an era of crisis. The rules-based international order that everyone talks about is losing its meaning and importance and is now just a slogan. The current international system, which lacks basic concepts such as solidarity, justice and trust, is not able to assume even its minimal responsibilities (…). »
“(…) Türkiye is one of the countries most affected by crises, due to its geographical location, its human and cultural ties and its international relations. Most of the conflicts, tensions, wars and risks that occupy the agenda of Humanity are experienced in our immediate geography. For example, we have been fighting the threat of terrorism for 40 years, which many countries have faced over the past 5 to 10 years. We are the only NATO ally to have fought Daesh hand-to-hand on the ground and to have defeated this organization. »
Regarding the situation in Gaza, which he addressed, President Erdoğan declared that “the international community can only pay its debt to the Palestinian people with the establishment of a Palestinian state. To this end, it is essential to establish a sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with al-Quds as its capital and having territorial integrity. To this end, we declared that as Türkiye we are ready to assume our responsibilities, including being a guarantor country. We will provide the necessary support to our Palestinian brothers and sisters in the future and we will contribute to the recovery of Gaza to the fullest extent of our means (…).”
Collected by Jeannot Ramambazafy
Source: Presidency of the Republic of Turkey
