Turkic Council Project Director Pelin Musabay Baki participated in the opening ceremony of Fourth Istanbul Conference on Mediation with the theme of “Surge in Diplomacy, Action in Mediation” organized under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey on 30 June 2017.

The Istanbul Conference on Mediation was held with the understanding that there is a need to take a comprehensive and holistic approach towards the prevention and resolution of conflicts and that the method of mediation can be used more widely.

Ambassador Dr. Burak Akçapar, Director General of the Political Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey who delivered the opening speech of the Conference, was followed by the video messages regarding the importance of mediation sent by Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Timo Soini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Mr. Didier Burkhalter, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations(UN).

More than 150 ambassadors, representatives of diplomatic missions, local and international academicians, experts, researchers and think tanks representatives attended the conference.

Project Director Baki attended the sessions and held talks with the officials from the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, during the sessions.