As one of the leading platforms for intellectual debate in Turkey, the TRT World Forum 2018 was held in Istanbul last week with the participation of prominent scholar, think-tankers, journalists, politicians, NGO representatives, and students. The main theme of the Forum was envisioning peace and security in a fragmented world. Participants discussed various dimensions of this theme on both regional and international levels.

The TRT World Forum is an emerging international platform for comprehensive analysis of ongoing problems in the world. Throughout the discussions and brainstorming sessions, the Forum enables participants to provide solutions for structural problems preventing peace in different parts of the world. Since it can be argued that conflict in today’s world arises due to 5 different issues, namely, sovereignty, ideology, security, independence, and identity, the TRT World Forum has been successful in paying attention to these issues and proposing alternative ways for understanding and solving ongoing crises on the national, regional, and international level.

During the opening and closing sessions, “transformations in the international system since WWI, the EU as a post-WWII project, the rise of the global south, regional players and the shifting security equation in the Middle East, the leadership role of women in a time of conflict, new media and trust formation and international cooperation in counter-terrorism” were the focus of discussions and proposed solutions.

Since the host country of the Forum was Turkey, the speakers paid special attention to Turkey’s role in providing peace and promoting democracy in its region. Instability in the Middle East is not a new phenomenon, and as was analyzed by some speakers, there are underlying social, economic, and cultural reasons behind it. Additionally, most of the speakers emphasized the changing concepts of conflict and peace after WWII.

Turkey has become a game-changer by designing and coordinating peace initiatives for ordinary people on a regional and international level. The humanitarian diplomacy is what differentiates Turkey from the rest of the world.

Indeed, in today’s world, defining violence, conflict, and peace, is not as easy as it was before. As one of the founding fathers of Peace Studies, Galtung’s conflict triangle differentiates structural, cultural, and direct violence. Gultang indicates that the non-existence of violence does not always mean that there is peace. He makes a differentiation between negative and positive peace and adds that if there is structural and/or cultural violence despite the non-existence of direct violence. This situation should then be called negative peace. Positive peace, on the other hand, requires the non-existence of structural and cultural violence in addition to the absence of direct violence.

As is emphasized by Galtung, the speakers at the TRT World Forum also attracted attention to the ambiguity of these concepts in post-truth times. Nevertheless, Turkey has become a game-changer by designing and coordinating peace initiatives for ordinary people on a regional and international level. This humanitarian diplomacy approach, as stated by speakers, differentiates Turkey from the rest of the world since Turkey also pays attention to building sustainable peace on a societal level.

Traditional methods of providing peace have been failed. Almost 300 peace agreements signed in the 1990s failed after a while.

Why does Turkey use different diplomacy tools for building sustainable peace in the world order? Especially after the 1990s, traditional methods of providing peace have failed. For instance, almost 300 peace agreements signed in the 1990s failed after a while. Additionally, most of the wars in this era ended with a victory of the one side and the ratio of full-settlement in these conflicts was very low. This data shows that traditional peace settlement and peace-building efforts do not provide conflict transformation successfully.

There is a need for transformative approaches in post-peace processes in order to ensure more sustainable results. Turkey, at this stage, is trying to build sustainable peace by including different actors and groups and is trying to increase the inclusivity and hybridity of peace initiatives.

On Thursday, President Erdogan spoke at the TRT World Forum, which is currently taking place in Istanbul. The Forum, which began on Wednesday, brought many speakers from all across the world, with the theme “Envisioning Peace and Security in a Fragmented World.”

During his speech, President Erdogan repeated his call for serious reforms within the United Nations Security Council – an issue that he also emphasized during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly that took place in September in New York.

Speaking at the closing session of the Forum, Erdogan said, “We need to achieve a United Nations Security Council with participation from seven continents.”

Turkey’s criticism against the United Nations and the UNSC in particular has heightened due to the organization’s failure to successfully deal with the Syrian crisis, which has led to a mass refugee problem across the world.

Erdogan repeated his “The world is bigger than five” motto, and argued that reforms need to be initiated in accordance with this acceptance.

Reminding the audience of the historical context of the UN, and that it was constructed in this manner due to the circumstances of the Second World War, the Turkish President stated, “The era of the five permanent members of the UNSC is over, we are not living under the same circumstances.”

Apart from Syria, Erdogan underlined the issue of Palestine. Arguing that the Palestine issue is one that can be solved, the President argued that the main reason why this issue has been prolonged is because the UN fails to ensure that Israel puts to practice the decisions that have been made against it.

“There are many decisions that have been taken against Israel at the UN, but none of them is implementable.”

Turkey-EU relations

During his speech, President Erdogan also touched upon Turkey’s bid to the European Union. Talking about this historical process, the President also mentioned that there could be a potential referendum in Turkey regarding this issue.

“There are many things that we can contribute to the European Union. They may have things to contribute to us but what should be done is, I suppose, to consult with 81 million people [in Turkey] and see what they will decide.”

Syrian Civil War

Turkey has been an active and key player in trying to end the Syrian Civil War. While party to the Astana process, in which Iran and Russia are also guarantor states, recently Ankara and Moscow reached an agreement on the Idlib issue.

Idlib is the only stronghold for Syrian rebels, and throughout the last month the political agenda was full with news that the Assad regime in Syria were to attack the city with Russian air support.

In regards to the issues in Syria, President Erdogan emphasized that Turkish troops are currently in Syria because the Syrian people want them to be there.

“The people of Syria invited us there. ‘Come here to save us’ they said.”

Touching upon the fragile Turkey-U.S. relations, President Erdogan also accused the U.S. of sending 19,000 truckloads of weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups in Syria.

The PKK/PYD issue and the continuous support that the U.S. has provided for the group continues to be a main obstacle in healing relations between the two countries.