Alfredo Sánchez Monteseirín, Seville’s mayor and honorary president of the Sevilla Nodo Foundation, told the Anatolia news agency that the foundation decided to grant the award to Erdoğan because of “his contributions to maintaining international security and peace and cooperation in resolution of international disputes and [his efforts] for improving friendship relations among peoples,” in addition to his role concerning the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) initiative.
The initiative, co-sponsored by Erdoğan and his Spanish counterpart, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was launched in 2005 under the aegis of then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Sevilla Nodo Foundation expresses its commitment, based on the heritage of Al-Andalus, to provide an open space for dialogue, mutual respect and enriching encounters.
Erdoğan is expected to accept the award when he visits Spain for an intergovernmental summit of Turkey and Spain in late February. The award was earlier given to Annan, goodwill envoy of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Mia Farrow and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chairman Mohamed ElBaradei. A statuette of artist Ben Jessef and $30,000 will be given to Erdoğan as an award.
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