Fidan awarded honorary doctorate by Moscow diplomacy institute

MOSCOW

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, known as MGIMO, during his visit to Russia.

A ceremony was held for Fidan at MGIMO, one of Russia's most prestigious universities and a leading institution in the field of diplomacy and international relations.

The honorary doctorate was presented to him by MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov.

In his speech, Fidan thanked Rector Torkunov and the institute's Academic Council for the award.

He said he regarded the honor not only as a personal recognition, but also as a sign of respect for the long-standing relationship between Türkiye and Russia and the mutual understanding linking the two peoples.

Fidan noted that MGIMO has trained diplomats, academics and statesmen for more than 80 years, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

He also paid tribute to the late Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov, another MGIMO graduate, saying Karlov's legacy continued to stand as proof of the unifying power of diplomacy.

Fidan said Türkiye-Russia relations had been shaped by history, tested by crises and sustained through cooperation and high-level dialogue, describing the partnership as increasingly important at a time of global uncertainty and transformation.

Fidan said the world was moving toward a multipolar order, but warned that the transition was full of risks.

As the old global paradigm loses influence and a new one has yet to fully emerge, he said, the margin for strategic miscalculation has become dangerously narrow.

Referring to recent regional tensions, including the US-Israel-Iran crisis, Fidan said the situation had placed pressure on countries across the region.

He welcomed the US-Iran deal as a relief and said Türkiye, together with regional partners, had worked actively to help achieve that outcome.

“This region must never again be exposed to such tension,” Fidan said, stressing that diplomacy remained the only effective tool for resolving regional disputes.

He added that the latest understanding should be transformed into a lasting and comprehensive peace arrangement.

Fidan said durable security could not be imported or imposed by actors from outside the region.

Real stability, he said, could only be built on regional ownership and reconciliation. In that context, he described Türkiye-Russia cooperation as indispensable for regional peace and stability.

The minister also emphasized the depth of Türkiye-Russia ties, saying the two countries are close neighbors and two active, influential powers.

He acknowledged that their views may differ from time to time, but said what made the relationship distinct was the way both sides managed those differences.

According to Fidan, Türkiye-Russia relations have passed through serious tests in recent years and emerged stronger.

He said this maturity "was not built overnight but through sustained diplomacy, mutual respect and trust between the two countries' leaders."

Fidan also pointed to trade and energy cooperation as the backbone of bilateral ties.

He said economic interdependence between the two countries had reached a highly advanced level, helping support mutual prosperity and resilience.

He noted that bilateral trade volume now exceeds $50 billion.

Energy cooperation, he added, continued to deepen, with the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant standing as one of the clearest examples of the strategic partnership between Ankara and Moscow.

Fidan also highlighted people-to-people relations, saying nearly 7 million Russian citizens visited Türkiye last year, while hundreds of thousands of Russians live, work or study in different Turkish cities.

Looking at the broader region, Fidan said Türkiye and Russia are located at the strategic center of some of the world's most important areas, from the Black Sea and the Caucasus to the Middle East and wider Eurasia.

He said Russia remains one of the key actors in maintaining both regional and global balances.

For both Türkiye and Russia, he said, stability in neighboring regions is essential for national security and economic prosperity.

He argued that this stability can only be sustained through continuous strategic cooperation between Ankara and Moscow.

Fidan called for greater regional ownership and cooperation, citing the 3+3 Regional Cooperation Platform in the South Caucasus as an example of this approach.

He said the more difficult task was to carry the same spirit to other regions, especially the Middle East.

The minister said the Middle East had long been treated as a stage for the ambitions of outside powers, but Türkiye and other countries in the region were determined to move beyond that pattern.

A postwar regional order, he said, must be built by the region itself.

In all these regional efforts, Fidan said, Russia remains an indispensable interlocutor for Türkiye.

He said this applied to the Middle East, the Caucasus and the future of European security.

On European security, Fidan said one of the central questions of the current era was how to build a lasting cooperative relationship with Russia.

Türkiye's position, he said, had always been clear: any European security architecture that does not address Russia's place in that structure will remain incomplete.

“Lasting stability cannot be based on a framework that leaves one of the continent's main actors outside the equation,” Fidan said. He also underlined that Türkiye had remained the only regional actor maintaining meaningful contacts with both Russia and Ukraine throughout the war.

He said some of those who once criticized Türkiye for hosting direct talks between Moscow and Kiev were now themselves discussing the need to reopen channels of communication with Russia.

Fidan said Türkiye would continue to believe in the power of diplomacy and was ready to take all necessary steps to establish peace and stability in the region.

He concluded that the Türkiye-Russia strategic partnership had already expanded beyond continental boundaries, adding that there were now very few areas on the international agenda where the two countries' strategic interests and concerns did not intersect.

According to Fidan, the relations between Türkiye and Russia had successfully overcome difficult tests in recent history and had grown stronger each time. He added that both sides were determined to carry this resilience and strategic vision further.