Meetings and Discussions

   

The Visit of the Representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and the Lecture on Turkish Foreign Policy

On September 15, 2005 the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies hosted Ambassador Murat Bilhan, Chairman of the Center for Strategic Research at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey and Dr. Kamer Kasim from Abant Izzet Baysal University. Their visit lasted for three days.

The meeting opened with Amb. Bilhan and Alex Rondeli signing an agreement on cooperation and scholar exchanges between the research institutes. The signing ceremony was followed with Amb. Bilhan’s lecture on Turkish foreign policy.

 During his speech, Amb, Bilhan emphasized the importance of Turkey’s geography and history in its policy decisions.  The Ambassador focused on the Republic Era, which began with the founding of the modern Turkish state in 1923 and continues to the present. After the lecture, the guest speaker answered questions from the audience that concerned the topics of Turkey’s relations with Russia, Caucasus states and the European Union. When discussing Turkish foreign policy in the Caucasus, Bilhan stressed that the legitimacy is the bulwark of Turkey’s foreign policy and in case of war over Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey would support Azerbaijan. The guest speaker reassured the audience that Turkey believes in protecting Georgian territorial integrity.