President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged on Oct. 23 to continue Türkiye’s mediation efforts and criticized the concentration of power in the U.N. Security Council.
In a video message to the ninth Istanbul Mediation Conference, Erdoğan said Türkiye remained committed to diplomacy even when parties stopped talking and hopes for a settlement faded.
“There is always a door open to diplomacy, even in the most difficult disputes,” he said.
Erdoğan cited prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine and mediation efforts in Africa as examples of Türkiye’s work to resolve conflicts. He said Ankara would continue bringing parties together and mediating fair solutions.
He warned that growing conflicts and escalating tensions were eroding confidence in international law and institutions.
Millions of people in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and other crisis regions who had placed their hopes in the U.N. were deeply disappointed, he said.
Erdoğan argued that a system in which the will of more than 190 countries depended on five powers was “neither fair nor capable of fully restoring trust,” referring to the Security Council’s five permanent members.
Türkiye rejected an approach to international politics built on mistrust, he added, saying effective diplomacy required the will, courage and sincerity to keep dialogue open.
Hosted by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the Oct. 23–24 conference brings together nearly 200 senior officials, diplomats, academics and experts in mediation and conflict resolution.
The event is being held under the theme “Partnerships and New Perspectives for Peace: Mediation in a Changing World.”
