The gathering was held by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in cooperation with the Center for Strategic Communication (Stratim) and the German Marshall Fund of the United States to shed broad insight on possible ways to ensure security in the Middle East.
The İstanbul Forum is an annual forum which includes European, American, Turkish and Middle Eastern participants, with each meeting taking up a different critical theme. The aim of the forum is to provide an opportunity for high-level discussion among diverse decision-makers and opinion shapers on shared policy challenges.
The main theme of yesterday's gathering at the Four Seasons Hotel was “The Middle East in World Politics: Searching for Security in a Troubled Region.” Erdoğan delivered a speech at the event in which he called for a new understanding, a new approach and a new global order for the settlement of the world's problems. “This new order should embrace everyone in a fair way which regards all diversity as a source of richness,” he noted.
“İstanbul poses a big opportunity for world peace, the alliance of civilizations and the fight against prejudices. I believe with all my heart that this gathering will make the best use of this opportunity and issue a very meaningful message to the whole world,” noted the prime minister.
Erdoğan said the distance between national, regional and global problems keep shrinking at a fast pace. “Global problems of our era require global solutions. All problems the world currently faces, including the economic crisis, poverty, hunger, terror, energy threats and climate change, are big problems difficult to settle. However, none of them are impossible,” he remarked.
Touching on the ongoing global financial crisis, which has taken its toll in most countries, the prime minister said the world should derive necessary lessons from the crisis. “It is assumed that the crisis has entered a period of recession. But the next phases [of the crisis] will be more destructive unless we derive the necessary lessons and correctly read its messages.
Globalization has brought together many opportunities in the fields of economy and politics, but the failure of globalization of welfare has shown that these opportunities are not feasible,” Erdoğan stated.
He also focused on Turkey's efforts to restore world peace in a number of fields, including politics, economics, culture and law, and put forward his country's view toward its neighbors with the motto “zero problem with neighbors.”
“Our intention is to use our experience for regional and global peace. Our constructive attitude in the Cyprus issue, approach to the Armenian matter and efforts to normalize dialogue with Iraq, Iran and Syria are concrete signals of our peaceful policies. The Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus and the European Union, in particular, should benefit from Turkey's experiences and its contributions to the global peace,” remarked the prime minister.
One of the major issues Erdoğan addressed during his speech was his unrest about conspiracy theories on the Middle East.
He said the region is associated with problems and crises though it does not deserve such an improper fame.
“It is true that the Middle East has not reached the desired level of development yet, but we all witness that it has had a promising dynamism in recent years. Countries in the region have the chance to develop if they are left to their own devices, but they are not. However, those countries have contributed to the history of humanity with their young population, rich natural resources, cultural mosaic and boundless experience,” he said.
Erdoğan expressed his wish to see the Middle East as a region famous once again for its culture, arts, science and peace. “We do not want to live till eternity with problems which affect the stability of the region. We aim at building a Middle East where peace, security and welfare reign instead of fears, instability, terror and violence,” he said, and urged all countries in the region to act together with a determination to settle its problems.
According to the prime minister, one of the important common denominators of Middle Eastern countries is their confidence in Turkey. “There may be countries that do not trust Turkey. We respect their opinions. Confidence in Turkey is not an obligation. But we are doing our best to win the confidence of those countries,” he said. Erdoğan was targeting Israel with his remarks, according to most observers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want Ankara serving as mediator in any future diplomatic negotiations with Syria, leading Israeli daily Haaretz reported last week.
Erdoğan went on to call for the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip and the realization of international pledges to Palestinians. "We believe the Palestinian issue is at the center of all problems in the region and that the atmosphere of peace and stability will not be long-lasting in the Middle East unless this issue is settled. The national unity of Palestine should be ensured as soon as possible and international efforts to pave the path for a peace process in the region should be accelerated," he remarked, saying that he held this position not in his capacity as a Muslim but in his capacity as a human.
The prime minister also advised Iran to eliminate the world's concerns regarding its efforts to develop nuclear energy. "Turkey's stance on nuclear weapons is extremely clear. We wish to live in a region free of all nuclear weapons. We do not want nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction in our region," he noted.
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