Ambassadors unite for climate change in Ankara

Twenty ambassadors who have served in Ankara have come together and posed for a photography project in a specially designed thematic studio to highlight the importance of climate change.

The project, “One World,” was jointly initiated by two daily Hürriyet staff members, reporter Haşim Kılıç and photographer Murat Koçak.

Breaking long-held stereotypes about ambassadors, the photographs capture rare moments and unusual gestures from figures known for their diplomatic missions and bearing.

Norwegian ambassador to Turkey Cecilie Landsverk, for instance, donned local garb and posed in the fetal position on a set resembling cracked soil, while former Cuban Ambassador Ernesto Gomez Abascal weathered an artificially created storm in the purpose-built studio. What their different poses had in common was the ambassadors’ concern about the increasing negative aspects of climate change, considered the major environmental threat facing the world today.

Individual measures

The ambassadors also enriched the project with their own messages on the issue, expressing their concern in statements saying that climate change is human-induced and that future generations will be even more imperiled by it if urgent steps are not taken.

One of the most important messages shared by the ambassadors was the need for change in states’ economic and political systems. Pointing to the universality of the problem, they called for joint, determined action against climate change.

Also emphasizing the importance of individual measures to contribute to a solution, the ambassadors called on people to review their consumption habits and act responsibly. Individual actions such as riding mass transit, keeping the environment clean and planting trees will contribute to a solution to the problem, the diplomats said.

The exhibit will be on display at Ankara’s Anatolian Civilizations Museum as of March 10.

The participants included German Ambassador Eckart Cuntz; former Cuban Ambassador Ernesto Gomez Abascal; Norwegian Ambassador Cecilie Landsverk; Ethiopian Ambassador Mulatu Teshome Wirtu and his wife, Meaza Abrham; South African Ambassador Tebogo Seokolo and his wife, Moipone Seokolo; French Ambassador Bernard Emie and his wife, Isabelle Emie; Canadian Ambassador Marc Bailey; Australian Ambassador Peter Doyle and his wife, Jennifer Lee; Japanese Ambassador Nobuaki Tanaka; Slovakian Ambassador Vladimir Jakabcin and his wife, Olga Jakabcin; Chinese Ambassador Xiaosheng Gong; Israeli Ambassador Gavriel Levy; Polish Ambassador Marcin Wilczek and his wife, Malvorzata Wilczek; Czech Ambassador Eva Filipi; former Danish Ambassador Jesper Vahr and his wife, Ane Vahr; Italian Ambassador Carlo Marsili and his wife, Selva Marsili; former Oman Ambassador Mohammed Bin Nassen Al Wohaibi; Palestinian Ambassador Nabil Maarouf; former British Ambassador Nick Baird and his wife, Carolina Baird; and Austrian Ambassador Heidemaria Gürer.