Daily Sabah (Turkey)

Russian FM set to visit Türkiye, attend diplomacy forum

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THE SPOKESPERS­ON for the Russian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the country’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, will be in Türkiye on an official visit. Lavrov will visit tomorrow and Saturday, Maria Zakharova said.

He is scheduled to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which will be held in the eponymous southern Turkish province, a popular destinatio­n among Russian tourists and expats. He will also hold bilateral talks with his Turkish counterpar­t, Hakan Fidan.

Russia and Türkiye have been preparing a Putin visit, which the Kremlin said would take place this week after Russia’s presidenti­al election in mid-March.

In the 2022 edition of the Antalya event, Lavrov met his Ukrainian counterpar­t, Dmitry Kuleba. It is unclear whether any Ukrainian officials will attend the 2024 forum or if Lavrov will meet them face-toface amid heightened conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Türkiye served as a mediator in their conflict, in its capacity as a rare country maintainin­g good ties both with Moscow and Kyiv.

Zakharova said Lavrov and Fidan would discuss cooperatio­n in energy, security, banking and tourism as well as the situation in Ukraine, the Southern Caucasus and the Palestinia­n territorie­s, Libya and Syria.

More than 20 heads of state and government from over 100 nations are set to convene for the 3rd Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) in March.

The forum will be held under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan between March 1-3. It will also host approximat­ely 90 ministers, including more than 60 foreign ministers and 80 representa­tives of internatio­nal organizati­ons.

The forum, held since 2021, was delayed last year due to the devastatin­g twin earthquake­s that shook southeaste­rn Türkiye

in February, causing the deaths of tens of thousands. The forum aims to promote Türkiye’s diplomacy and foreign relations while advancing its friendship and cooperatio­n with other nations. It takes place annually to contribute to Ankara’s regional and global values in diplomacy.

Notably, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its third year and Israel’s war on Gaza is nearing its sixth month, this year’s main theme is “Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil.” The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the theme aims to serve as “a thorough reflection and the means for searching for a peaceful way out of the turbulent period the world has been going through.”

“Ongoing wars, acts of terrorism, irregular migration, the rise of xenophobia and Islamophob­ia, unforeseen risks of artificial intelligen­ce (AI), climate change, natural disasters, pandemics and widening socioecono­mic gaps form a non-exhaustive list of global challenges,” the ministry’s statement said.

“The erosion and loss of trust in the rulesbased internatio­nal order is also a worrying trend, underminin­g the predictabi­lity of the environmen­t in which states operate.”

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