Handan Kazancı,Nilay Kar
October 04, 2018•Update: October 05, 2018
ISTANBUL
A speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday capped off the second edition of an annual international meeting hosted by Turkish public broadcaster TRT in Istanbul.
The two-day TRT World Forum, with the theme "Envisioning Peace and Security in a Fragmented World," brought together over 600 participants, including leading global opinion leaders, policymakers, businesspeople, and academics.
Distinguished participants included Jordan's Queen Rania Al-Abdullah; Staffan de Mistura, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy to Syria; Francesco Rocca, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Franco Frattini, former Italian foreign minister.
Hamid Karzai, former Afghan president; Stefan Fule, former European commissioner for enlargement and European neighborhood policy, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s former permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, were also among those who attended the forum.
The world’s most pressing issues and challenges were discussed during the two-day event, with Anadolu Agency as the global communication partner.
Turkey’s Parliament Speaker Binali Yildirim and Ibrahim Eren, TRT’s head, delivered opening speeches. Day one of the forum featured four open and six closed sessions.
On Wednesday night, TRT World also hosted the World Citizen Awards, which recognizes exceptional individual contributions to humanity. Turkey’s first lady Emine Erdogan was guest of honor.
Day two of the forum included six open and six closed sessions.
Ibrahim Kalin, Turkey’s presidential spokesman, spoke at a session on "Regional Players and the Shifting Security Equation in the Middle East.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Dutch counterpart Stef Blok spoke at a session entitled “Transforming the Future through Regional Cooperation.”
The forum concluded on Thursday with a special keynote address by President Erdogan.
