The opening speeches of the conference was made by Dr. Elnur Aslanov, Chief of the Political Analyses and Information Department of the Office of the President of Azerbaijan and Dr. Farhad Mammadov, Director of the Center for Strategic Research under the Presidency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the conference was followed by the representatives of diplomatic missions in Baku, academics, government officials and members of the press.

H.E. Alev Kılıç, retired Ambassador and Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies, delivered a speech entitled “Taking Stock of Twenty Years of BSEC and Perceptions on How We Proceed Further”, while SAM was represented by Assoc. Prof. Ferhat Pirincci, Advisor at SAM who delivered a speech entitled “Globalization, Regionalism and Interdependence: Re-evaluating the BSEC Region”.

Over 20 academics and experts from different countries expressed their views on the Black Sea Region in four panels such as political and economic transformation, visions and opportunities, security agenda and conflict resolution, and energy security.

Prof Bülent Aras, President of SAM, Assoc Prof Mesut Özcan, Vice President of SAM, Assoc Prof Şaban Kardaş, Counsellor for SAM, and Assoc Prof Mehmet Şahin from Gazi University participated in the conference as speakers in the conference hosted by Çukurova University. Prof Mustafa Kibar, Rector of Çukurova University, Prof Harun Arıkan, Chief of Department of International Relations and several academicians and students also attended the conference.

Prof Kibar and Prof Arıkan made an opening speech at the beginning of the organization. The root causes of the Arab Spring and impact of the developments on the countries in the region, Turkey’s Middle East Policy, Iran and Arab Spring, the recent developments in Syria and Turkey’s perspective on Arab Spring were the topics discussed during the conference. The organization was taken place interactively by contributions of the students with their comments and questions.

Students, academics, NGO represengtatives participated at the conference where King provided information on his father’s, leader of the African-American civil rights movement Martin Luther King, legacy and the importance of nonviolence in today’s world. 

King also touched upon recent issues at the Q&A session and underlined the importance of universal values like human rights, justice and peace.

Students, NGO representatives and journalists participated interactively at the workshop where CWBI President Johnny Mack and Senior Vice-President Maneshka Eliatamby provided information on peace, conflict, violence and non-violence.

Communities Without Boundaries International, Inc.(CWBI) is a non-profit NGO that is founded by Afro-American Civil Rights Movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s son Martin Luther King III. The aim of CWBI is to contribute to the peace processes in the conflict exposed regions through development research, educational and technical assistance.

CWBI, which conducted many peace construction services in many parts of the world such as Africa, Balkans, Middle East, South Asia and Latin America, also maintained the philosophy of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr through the trainings of “Non-Violence in the Construction of Peace”.

Prof. Bülent Aras, Chairman of SAM, Assoc. Prof. Mesut Özcan, Deputy Chairman of SAM and Assoc. Prof. Şaban Kardaş underlined the importance of Turkey’s historical ties with Europe and its foreign policy tendencies towards the EU in the recent era and expressed their views on the public opinion in Turkey towards the EU at the “Turkey and the EU: What Does Paris Want?” session.

French journalists, business world representatives and various experts discussed the future of Turkey-EU relations in light of the Eurozone financial crisis and the cooperation ties between Turkey and France at the session entitled “The French, the Turks and Europe: Taking Stock in a Crisis Driven Environment”.

Turkey’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO Ambassador Gürcan Balık also participated at the workshop and expressed his views on Turkey-EU relations.

In the first session of the panel, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mesut Özcan, Deputy Chairman of SAM, provided information on Turkish foreign policy’s recent Middle East engagement in the light of the Arab Spring. Assoc. Prof. Kardaş, faculty member of TOBB-ETU’s international relations department, underlined Turkish foreign policy’s main tenets towards the region in a changing environment.

The second session was held in Q&A format where participants discussed on various issues, inter alia, Turkey’s mediation efforts, recent developments in Syria, Turkey-Israel relations and the presence of Russia and China in Central Asia.

The Turkish delegation was represented by Assoc.Prof. Mesut Ozcan, Vice President of SAM, Kemal Yurtnac, President of Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities, Prof.Dr.Yasin Aktay, Director of SDE, Dr.Sıdıka Başçı, Coordinator of SDE Economic Studies, Assoc.Prof.Ahmet Uysal, Coordinator of SDE Middle Eastern Studies, and Ass.Prof.Ahmet Öztürk from Osmangazi University in the workshop hosted by Kuwait University. Prof.Dr. Abdul Redha Ali Assiri, Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Dr. Obaid Al-Otaibi, Director of CGAPS and several academicians. The workshop has an important position since it has been the first academic organization between Turkey and Kuwait.

Mr. Murat Tamer, Ambassador of Turkey to Kuwait, also participated in the conference and made an opening speech. The economic, cultural, academic dimensions of Turkish-Kuwaiti relations, bilateral relations in the scope of Gulf Cooperation Council, the commercial sanctions imposed by Kuwait, Turkey’s regional foreign policy and improving positive influence in the Middle East and potential cooperation capabilities were the topics discussed during the workshop.

The opening speeches of the conference was made by H.E. Ahmet Akif Oktay, Turkish Ambassador to Vietnam, and Prof Vo Khanh Vinh the Vice-President of VASS, was followed by the representatives of diplomatic missions in Hanoi, Vietnamese scholars, governmental officials and members of the press.

Prof Aras, SAM Chairman, addressed to participants on the general framework of Turkish Foreign Policy including the “Zero Problem Policy”. Later , Assoc. Prof Çolakoğlu, SAM Advisor and Dr Üngör-Sunar, Instructor at Marmara University gave speeches entitled “Possible Cooperation Fields between Turkey and Vietnam” and “Turkey’s Asian Policy” respectively.

In the course of the event, a Memorandum of Understanding institutionalizing cooperation and relations between SAM and IAMES was also signed.

Following a seminar addressed to our junior diplomats, a roundtable meeting entitled “Recent Developments in Security Studies and Second Track Diplomacy Experiences from the Field” took place with the participation of academics, as well as MFA diplomats from the departments overseeing security, nonproliferation, the Middle East and the South Asia issues.

In the course of the meeting, the participants discussed the current situation of the conflict zones and Track II diplomacy activities seeking initiation of dialogue and confidence-building for successful conflict resolution. Furthermore, the “Second Istanbul Conference on Mediation” which will take place on 9th-11th April was also discussed in depth.

A roundtable meeting with the participation of the representatives of both institutions and academics was held prior to the signing ceremony. Within the scope of the MoU, prospective cooperation areas, namely the EU, the Middle East, energy and security issues, were also addressed in the meeting and both sides agreed on exchange knowledge for scientific research purposes.