Antalya Diplomacy Forum to focus on Gaza crisis

ANKARA

The Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which will hold its third event since its foundation, will focus on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, where the Israeli security forces are committing massacres of civilians that left more than 28,000 people already dead.

The three-day forum will be launched on March 1 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who will host leaders from at least 21 countries, dozens of foreign ministers, academics, journalists and civil society representatives.

This year’s theme will be “Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil” and aims to serve as a thorough reflection and the means for searching for a peaceful way out of the turbulent period the world is going through.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli informed that the participants will find the opportunity to discuss the global challenges, regional conflicts and other issues to the concern of the entire humanity in 40 different panels.

“In the meantime, there will be a special high-level panel for Gaza,” Keçeli said, referring to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas since October. As a result of Israel’s indiscriminate attacks, more than 28,000 people, mostly children and women, were killed, and around 2 million civilians are suffering from a lack of sufficient humanitarian assistance in the war-torn enclave.

Among the participants of the panel will be the foreign ministers from the Contact Group, which was established at a joint summit by the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League, Keçeli informed.

The Contact Group, which includes ministers from Türkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other prominent countries, has put pressure on the Western world and the U.N. Security Council to reach a ceasefire and start a new round of negotiations for a lasting agreement between Israel and Palestine.

According to the spokesman, 21 heads of government and states have already confirmed their participation in the forum. A total of 59 foreign ministers will also attend the forum and the number of participants in general is expected to be around 4,000, he maintained.