Istanbul to host international conferences on mediation

Istanbul is expected to host two separate international conferences on mediation in peace-building and conflict resolution on Thursday and Friday.

The fifth edition of the Istanbul Mediation Conference will convene on Friday, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The theme for the conference will be "enhancing the practice of mediation for sustaining peace," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Istanbul Mediation Conferences are organized in the context of the importance Turkey attributes to mediation as a method of prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts," the statement added.

"As in the previous years, the 5th Istanbul Mediation Conference will once again constitute a sufficient platform in the sharing of knowledge and experience to enhance the practice of mediation by bringing together international experts," the statement said.

The first conference was organized in 2012 under the theme of "enhancing peace through mediation" and focused on conceptual and theoretical issues. Since then, the conferences have continued to be organized in Istanbul every year.

"These landmark conferences are designed to bring together numerous practitioners and scholars in the field of conflict prevention and mediation activities," said Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in an article he wrote for Daily Sabah for last year's conference. "The aim of these conferences is to promote synergies between theory and practice and help increase scope, reach and effectiveness of the international community's mediation efforts," he added.

Meanwhile, the 2nd Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States Conference on Mediation will also be held in Istanbul tomorrow, in the context of the importance Turkey attributes to strengthening the key roles of regional organizations in the prevention and peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The OIC Member States Conferences on Mediation, first held in 2017, contributes to the efforts of Turkey to raise awareness and build capacity for mediation within the OIC and among its member states. This year's conference will contribute to the future activities of the OIC Contact Group of Friends of Mediation, which Turkey has recently formed and is co-chairing along with similar groups in the U.N. and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).