South African Delegation’s Visit to ORSAM

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The Special Representative of the President of the Republic of South Africa for the Middle East Peace Process and the accompanying delegation paid a visit to ORSAM within the scope of their visit to Turkey that took place on 2-6 March 2016. The delegation led by the Special Representative also included South African ambassadors and diplomats who are employed in the South African Embassy in Ankara. ORSAM Delegation was composed of ORSAM Advisor Prof. Harun Öztürkler and ORSAM Researchers Oytun Orhan, Bilgay Duman and led by the ORSAM President Assoc. Prof. Şaban Kardaş. Firstly, the Special Representative of the President of Republic of South Africa for the Middle East Peace Process explained the delegation’s purpose of visit. He underlined that his country had been putting effort on the issue of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process and that they were in Turkey for the last pillar of their visits to North Africa and some Middle Eastern countries. Following the Representative’s speech, Kardaş, the President of ORSAM, took the floor to mention about ORSAM's activities.

Following the speeches by the heads of delegations, current issues in Middle East and Turkey’s position on these issues were discussed pursuant to South African Delegation’s questions. Speaking on behalf of ORSAM, Kardaş firstly told about how the Israel-Palestine Problem had been perceived. Mentioning about Turkey’s position, he stated that two-state solution was supported about the issue in question. During the visit, in addition to the main discussion topic of Israeli-Palestinian Question, other topics such as foreign terrorist fighters, the results of the radical change that is taking place in the Middle East and its likely results were also discussed. ORSAM President Kardaş also mentioned about the challenges to Turkey as a result of the regional developments. He also stated that, rising radicalism, questioning of borders, the governments losing power and the unfolding inability of regional cooperation mechanisms to resolve the problems in Middle East were the latest threats. The meeting was concluded with the expression of the willingness for the continuation of the cooperation by both parties.