For almost 100 years, the security of energy supply has been a crucial part of the agenda in most countries. To increase supply security, countries must diversify their energy sources, supply routes and suppliers as well. As a country highly dependent on imported energy resources, Türkiye has been cautiously trying to take these critical steps for nearly 20 years.

Türkiye has crowned its nearly 20-year-long win-win-oriented policy in Africa by successfully concluding the Ankara Process, one of the many constructive efforts aiming at contributing to peace, security and development of the continent.

The Middle Eastern developments continue to set the agenda of international politics. The Al-Aqsa Flood has become a turning point for the whole region. The ongoing genocide in Gaza against the Palestinian people and the Israeli aggression against the sovereignty of regional countries, directly and indirectly, influence all regional dynamics. Israel’s attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian proxies in Syria have dramatically changed the Syrian context as well. As a result of the shifted regional balance of power, the opposition forces, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian National Army (SNA), initiated a military operation against Syria's Bashar Assad regime on Nov. 27.

Türkiye’s extended hand for normalization represented an opportunity for the Bashar Assad regime. Starting in the early months of 2023, Türkiye demonstrated its determination on this issue. Ensuring territorial integrity, clearing terrorism, enabling the return of refugees and ultimately establishing an inclusive and stable administration in Syria – without excluding the regime – offered Assad a viable way out.

President Erdoğan dedicating a significant portion of his UN speech to Gaza highlighted not only the importance of the Palestinian issue for Türkiye but also its central role in regional peace and global governance. The moral clarity and call to action on this matter, which has been a recurring theme in Erdoğan’s past speeches, carried considerable weight. The UN, established to ensure international peace and security, has been paralyzed in addressing the Palestinian issue due to its structural problems and inability to move beyond great power rivalries, illustrating the crisis of the international order. Türkiye’s insistence on keeping the Palestinian issue on the global agenda is crucial for its national interests, regional balance, and the future of the international system.

Following the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Meeting between Türkiye and Egypt in Ankara on Sept. 4, 16 agreements were signed, and a 36-point joint declaration was issued. Ankara and Cairo had been at odds for nearly a decade following the bloody military coup led by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in 2013 that removed Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s only democratic ruler, from power.