Türkiye hosted 6,400 participants from 150 different countries, including 23 heads of state, 13 vice presidents or prime ministers and 50 ministers, during the fifth edition of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF), held on April 17-19 in Antalya. A total of 52 activities and sessions were organized during the forum, which was held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Politicians, diplomats, academics, students, journalists, lawmakers, security experts, businesspeople, activists and representatives of intergovernmental and civil society organizations discussed various regional and global issues. This year’s theme was “Dealing with Uncertainties When Designing the Future.” Speakers and presenters focused on both existing and potential regional and global challenges.
Most speakers were critical of the Western perspective, arguing that it undermines fundamental norms and principles of international relations. Therefore, the ADF has been largely considered an alternative global platform. Unlike Western platforms, it enables diverse opinions to be discussed. Most participants in the forum emphasized issues often overlooked by Western countries. For example, participants, including state representatives, expressed their concerns regarding the Gaza genocide and the unilateral and aggressive policies of Western countries, particularly the United States.
The ADF is an effective tool of Turkish diplomacy, which brings together representatives of different political actors from all continents. Thus, it embraces all parts of the world, including the West. This and similar platforms, such as the International Strategic Summit (Stratcom) and the TRT World Forum, help increase Türkiye's strategic autonomy. It shows that Türkiye can bring representatives from every nation-state and indicates that Türkiye is a global actor. Through these forums, Türkiye has become a center of international politics.
The ADF provides Türkiye with many advantages. This annual forum enables Türkiye to exchange views with representatives from different countries at various levels, thereby helping to improve Turkish foreign policy and strengthen its relations with other countries. Turkish officials meet with their colleagues, while nongovernmental actors discuss bilateral, regional and global issues with their counterparts.
Second, Türkiye uses this platform to set the international agenda and seek solutions to international crises. For example, Türkiye used this forum to discuss and mediate between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Ukraine and Russia. In addition, Türkiye utilizes the ADF to contribute to the development of international cooperation in protecting universal values, promoting moral values and human rights in international politics.
Third, the forum allows Türkiye to convey its national perspective to other countries. Turkish representatives share their country’s main expectations and concerns regarding the international system. Türkiye presents its foreign policy orientation to the international community as being based on a moral realist understanding. In other words, it calls on other countries to respect and consider human rights while defending and maximizing their national interests.
The ADF has become an effective Turkish brand of global diplomacy, which represents the opposition to the collapsed system and the dominant political understanding. The world, especially the non-Western part of the world, is no longer very interested in Western global platforms, including the Davos Economic Forum and the Munich Security Conference. Western states, institutions and platforms have largely lost the trust of other actors.
There are several significant additional contributions of the ADF to international politics. First of all, similar to the United Nations General Assembly, the ADF provides a global platform for small and medium-sized states to interact with other countries. Many states are unable to find a suitable international platform and a free environment to discuss related international problems. Dozens of open and closed sessions were held during the forum. Effective international media outlets closely watched and covered the event. The participants have discussed regional and global problems and offered alternative solutions.
At a time when traditional international platforms do nothing to address international crises, Türkiye provides an alternative global platform in which any state can discuss international political and economic problems. It is now clearer than ever that Western countries are often considered the main sources of regional and global problems. Therefore, non-Western states seek solutions in alternative platforms such as the ADF, where they can call for a moral and order-centered international system.
The ADF brings together not only representatives of like-minded countries but also those of conflicting countries. The forum hosted representatives of Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2021, and foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia in 2022, being the first platform of direct talks between the two warring countries. At this year’s edition, Iranian representatives had the opportunity to meet with representatives from different countries and convey their perspective on the American-Israeli-Iranian conflict to representatives of other states.
As for the gathering of like-minded regional states, multilateral meetings of the three regional platforms were particularly important. In this context, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted the 3rd Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Balkans Peace Platform on the margins of the ADF. Similarly, Fidan hosted the Informal Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States. He also hosted the 3rd Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of Türkiye, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to discuss the possibility of establishing a regional pact and reaching a lasting solution to the American-Israeli-Iranian war.
It was proven that the ADF will continue to serve as an important platform for Turkish diplomacy, to set the agenda of international politics, and to propose alternative solutions to regional and global problems.
