Akhtar Jamal Antalya
With recent high-profile policy meetings, reconcilatory moves and interactions between rivals, Turkey has emerged as the hub of world political and geostrategic centre.
This past week, several positive developments were seen as Antalya Diplomatic Conference was held, thanks to the efforts of Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan and his skilled team foreign picy team led by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglun.
The most exiting breakthrough was the fact that Russian FM Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart met for the first time face to face with Turkish mediation efforts.
Turkiye FM also held seperate meeting with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts and urged both to save human lives first.
The Turkish mediation result did achieve tangible results following which President Putin himself conceded that Russia had received some positive signs from Antalya meeting.
The second important progress emerged when Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers also met and agreed to defuse tension.
Antalya Conference itself recorded a big success as about a dozen heads of state, 15 top leaders, including three heads of government, 67 ministers, six deputy ministers, and secretaries of 44 regional and international organizations, including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg carefully noted the addresses and deliberations.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s frank and candid address to the participants pleased most but surprised some major powers when he complained about double standard policy over Ukraine and lack of attention on other similar issues. He became emotional while explaining the miseries of children due to newly created problems in the world.
Dozens of West European, Baltic, Asian and African highly appreciated the speech and joined him in demanding immediate cease fire and negotiating table to settle differences. President Erdogan has given repeated surprises in recent months when he decided to quickly reconcile with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and even arch rival Greece.
