Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to warmly welcome you to Turkey. It is indeed a great pleasure for us to host such a group of bright young diplomats from all over the world.

This year, we are celebrating the 18th anniversary of our international training program for young diplomats. It is delightful to see the program grow every year, now reaching five continents and 80 countries.

So far, we had the pleasure of having more than 750 young diplomats come to Turkey within the framework of this program. They have now become organic bridges between Turkey and their respective countries.

They have all left a unique imprint on our hearts and minds and we truly cherish our encounter with each and every one of them. Now, we expect no less from you!

Indeed, the friendships established here go much beyond building a professional network, although this in itself is important.

For three weeks, we work together, think together and live together. As a result, we become the members of a larger single community and achieve a much better understanding of each other. Through this understanding we start forging a common vision for our nations.

And this is entirely in tune with the transformation that our world has been going through.

Indeed, our world today is no longer composed of distinct or detached states. It has now become a global village, in which the fate of all our societies and countries are bound together.

In other words, we are genuinely becoming an international community. We have reached a point in which we must truly learn to act as a family of nations, whose members see the world through the same window and jointly address common challenges.

This is precisely the aim of this program. We are not here to teach and preach you about the wonders of Turkish foreign policy. This is all about sharing our perspectives, expressing our concerns and expectations, and above all finding a common ground that will help us move forward together.

As such, we are here to equally learn from you. Your questions, statements and contributions are extremely valuable to us all. It is through this dialogue that we are hoping to create a shared vision for our world, as well as a better understanding of what needs to be done collectively to achieve this vision.

Dear Colleagues,

It is with this attitude of mind that we prepared an intense and promising program for you.

You will not only meet with diplomats from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, but will also discuss various issues with our academicians and intellectuals.

In light of their experiences from past years, they are already looking forward to meeting and engaging with you. We, on our part, are eager for yet another round of stimulating discussions.

Then it will get even better! As part of the program you will also have the opportunity to visit different parts of Turkey.

I believe that those visits will give you a better idea of how small the world is. Because all around Turkey, you will come across countless hallmarks of ancient civilizations, together with many contemporary ethnic and religious groups.

Indeed, due to its unique history and geography, Turkey represents more than itself. It is, as they call, a cradle of civilizations. From the Balkans to the Caucasus, the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, the Middle East to North Africa, Turkey proudly carries the traits of its surroundings.

This wide region is the birthplace of the three great religions of humanity and has been home to many civilizations throughout history. Modern Turkey is the culmination of all these dynamics, which have blessed us with a strategic depth in all four directions.

This is also why we pursue a multi-dimensional and multi-directional foreign policy aiming at generating peace and stability in our wider neighborhood. We feel a strong responsibility for those with whom we shared our past and with whom we are now bound together for a common future.

Especially since the end of the Cod War, Turkey has increasingly stepped up its efforts in this direction. Not only have we deemed this unavoidable, given our geography and history, but we also felt much better equipped to do so.

Indeed, within the past ten years or so Turkey has made great advances in its economy and democracy. This has allowed us to pursue a more active and effective foreign policy.

But as we started playing a more active role in foreign policy, we have also realized that no country alone can make a positive difference. Our time is the era of cooperation. In other words, at no other point in history has there been a greater need for cooperation among nations to effectively tackle our common challenges.

And you cannot simply dictate cooperation on others. It has to be sought out by all sides. There is no room for imposition and coercion in a cooperative relationship.

Such a voluntary interaction and collaboration, however, comes about only if there is genuine trust and mutual understanding on both sides.

So the equation is rather simple: Peace and security today requires cooperation, which in turn necessitates trust and mutual understanding. And the entry point to this process is dialogue.

Indeed, without a meaningful dialogue there can neither be understanding nor cooperation between parties.

And this brings me back to the objectives of this program and why we are gathered here today. The exchanges you are going to have in this program with your course mates and Turkish counterparts will allow you to build the trust and understanding which will further strengthen the foundation of the cooperative relationships among our countries.

Years from now, when you become more senior representatives of your Ministries, you will know how to reach out to your colleagues on the other side.

That said, the need for dialogue cannot be confined to diplomats alone. In fact, modern day diplomacy can no longer be conducted solely by diplomats.

In parallel with the widening scope of international relations, an increasing number of actors come into play and make important contributions to the realm of diplomacy.

Business communities, non-governmental organizations, civil society institutions, media outlets and even individuals alone are now able to make a difference in the way we conceive and conduct our foreign relations. For instance, we have all seen how a street vendor in Tunisia has sparked a historic transformation in an entire region.

So my advice to you is to use your time in Turkey not only with your official counterparts but to meet as many people as possible from different sections of Turkish society. Every person you meet will bring a fresh perspective to your understanding of this country and the things we can do together.

Of course, we see this program as the beginning of a long professional, but also personal relationship. We believe that it is through such formal and informal people-to-people contacts that we will be able to advance and diversify the cooperation between our countries.

This is also why Turkey has been lifting visa regimes with as many countries as possible. Many of you came to Turkey without visas. And for those of you who had to get one, rest assured that we are working on fixing that.

Because so far we have only seen the benefits of facilitating travel to and from Turkey. Our trade volume, for instance, with the countries in our own neighborhood which have been prioritized for visa liberalization, has quadrupled in the last ten years. So has the number of tourists coming to Turkey.

It is through these contacts that there is now a better understanding of what Turkey stands for. And this is the reason why we can now speak of our soft power. Indeed, if Turkey’s policies and objectives are now better appreciated and supported in the world, it is mostly because there is a growing and more accurate public opinion about what we do and why.

Dear Colleagues,

In conclusion, I would like to welcome you once again to Turkey. We hope that your stay here will mark the start of a lasting relationship between us.

My colleagues from the Diplomatic Academy are here to help you in every respect. So, please do not hesitate to call on us whenever you need something.

Finally, today I see enthusiastic faces and curious eyes all around the room. I hope that at the end of the program your enthusiasm will be preserved if not furthered, while your curiosity will be satisfied in full.

Thank you.