"Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil"

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum took place on March 1-3, 2024, under the auspices of H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Türkiye, and on the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye.

In its third edition, the Antalya Diplomacy Forum gathered heads of states and governments, ministers, diplomats, business leaders, academics, think-tankers, and youth and media representatives for an all-encompassing debate.

The overarching theme of this year’s Forum was “Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil”. It aimed to serve as a thorough reflection and the means for searching a peaceful way out of the turbulent period our world is going through. Ongoing wars, acts of terrorism, irregular migration, rise of xenophobia and Islamophobia, unforeseen risks of AI, climate change, natural disasters, pandemics and widening socioeconomic gaps form a non-exhaustive list of global challenges. The erosion and subsequently the loss of trust in the rules-based international order is also a worrying trend, undermining the predictability of the environment in which states operate.

Simultaneously, the world is going through a period of several turmoils and these challenges may also act as agents leading to structural changes in the global political, economic and security landscape. Moreover, as one third of the world’s population is heading to the polls in 2024, many questions about the impact of elections on pressing international issues as well as concerns on AI manipulated disinformation and fake news will be on the international agenda.

How do we make better use of diplomacy to tackle global challenges in the current state of affairs? The answer certainly lies in the adoption of a novel understanding of diplomacy, beyond its essential and traditional framework of dialogue.

For that purpose, The Antalya Diplomacy Forum once again provided its distinguished participants an interactive and thought-provoking platform to address the challenging issues shaping the global and regional agendas, and to discuss innovative tools to advance diplomacy in times of turmoil.