Panel I: Emerging / Shared Concerns and Prerequisites for Türkiye and Greece

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s address at the 78th United Nations General Assembly provided a profound insight into the global and regional priorities that guide Turkish foreign policy. In an era marked by escalating global and regional power rivalries, growing global uncertainties and a changing regional geopolitical landscape prevalent with security challenges, Türkiye faces the imperative of redefining its foreign policy.

I am in New York City, where the heart of diplomacy is beating, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This year’s general debate theme, which takes place after the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) expansion and the G-20 summit in New Delhi, India, will be “rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in New York on Sunday to participate in the 78th United Nations General Assembly. During the visit, he is also set to hold a series of meetings with world leaders and influential entrepreneurs. One of the meetings garnering significant attention was the one between President Erdoğan and Elon Musk, the renowned founder of Tesla and SpaceX.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan paid an important visit to Iraq between Aug. 22-24. Iraq is one of the most strategic countries in the neighboring geography for Türkiye in terms of the fight against terrorism, energy geopolitics, economic relations, internal stability and rivalry between the countries in the region. Therefore, Fidan’s visit is quite critical before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's expected visit to Iraq.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Budapest on Sunday, along with heads of state and government from the Turkic states, the Balkans and Qatar, on the occasion of Hungary's national day.

Türkiye has continued where it left off after the last presidential and parliamentarian elections. The Turkish political leadership has been continuously struggling to increase its strategic autonomy in international politics and to build different axes of stability in regions, reflecting its multilateral foreign policy understanding. When looking at the most recent visit to Ankara and Turkish visits to other countries, we can see that Türkiye will continue to invest in regionalism and minilateralism in the near future.

There is a widely held belief that Turkish foreign policy is currently undergoing a significant shift. Particularly in the aftermath of the presidential elections on May, a noticeable process has unfolded wherein Türkiye has been actively working to mend its relationships with Europe.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan delivered his most comprehensive speech on his vision of a national foreign policy and the Foreign Ministry’s role at the 14th Ambassadors Conference. Stressing that the global system was experiencing “complex and multiple crises,” he highlighted injustice, risks and the need for change. Arguing that Türkiye, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s leadership, shall be among the countries shaping the new international system, Fidan added that the "Century of Türkiye" vision’s foreign policy objective was to transform Türkiye into a “system-building player.”

Russia’s suspension of the Black Sea grain deal continues to capture the global media’s attention as that decision disproportionately hurts African nations. Having hosted 17 African heads of state and government last week, the Kremlin used the discourse of “opposing new Western colonialism together” at the Russia-Africa Summit – where Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged free grains to Africa.

As a reaction to certain regional and global developments, a large-scale normalization process was initiated in the Middle East at the beginning of 2020. As part of this normalization, Türkiye and the Gulf states normalized their relations three years ago to increase their autonomy and effectiveness in international politics.

Deepening Türkiye’s ties with those three Gulf states in trade, defense, technology, communication and security amounts to more than just reciprocal investments. After all, Türkiye has been gaining influence over the balance of power in that region. The country now seeks to form strategic alliances with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi – as it did with Doha several years ago. It is also possible for other Gulf states to become part of that trend.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday as part of his tour of the Gulf states. Over the course of four days, he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) with a focus on investments and commercial relations. However, it is possible to argue that Erdoğan’s trip goes beyond strictly economic relations and marks the beginning of a new chapter in Türkiye’s relations with the Gulf.

Due to the lack of global leadership and the increase of uncertainties and insecurity in the wake of the collapse of the bipolar world and the Soviet Union, many small and middle states began to restructure their foreign policy orientation. The intensification of global rivalry, the increase of unilateral intervention and the return of power politics have led small and middle states to diversify their foreign relations and form regional political and economic platforms to overcome global threats and challenges.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan turned the question of Sweden’s NATO membership into an opportunity to start a new chapter in Türkiye’s relations with the West. Having hosted his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Istanbul ahead of the Vilnius summit and stating that Ukraine deserved to join the alliance, Erdoğan brought up the need to remove obstacles before his country’s European Union membership.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started a new debate ahead of this week’s NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Commenting on Sweden’s bid to join the Alliance, he argued that the relevant countries should “clear Türkiye’s path to European Union (EU) membership.” That statement aligned perfectly well with the readout of Erdoğan’s most recent phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden.

The Vilnius Summit is taking place at a time when the NATO alliance is beginning to overcome the strategic ambiguity it has experienced since the Cold War. Following the United States' declaration of a "war on global terrorism" after the September 11 attacks, NATO became involved in Afghanistan, but the alliance was unable to develop a strategy that aligned with the changing international security system. NATO's 2010 Strategic Concept document mentioned cooperation with Russia but made no reference to the threat posed by China. Failing to provide a strong response to the annexation of Crimea, the alliance suddenly found itself facing the risk of nuclear war in Europe with Russia's attempted occupation of Ukraine. This development served as a reminder of NATO's core mission and highlighted the need for a complete reassessment of Europe's security. The alliance attempted to present a comprehensive vision against Russia, China, and other global threats in its 2022 Strategic Concept document.