Impressions of Participation of WCA President in the Second Antalya Diplomacy Forum
- Post 21 March 2022
The WCA President Johny Messo was invited to speak at the second Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF) held on 11-13 March 2022 in a beautiful Antalya resort on the coast of the Mediterranean. This high-level event gathered political leaders, diplomats and academics from diverse continents to shed light on a wide range of topics in international relations under the overarching theme of “Recoding Diplomacy.” For a summary of Johny's participation in the first ADF, click here.
For the program, participants and more information. see the website of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum.
Like the previous ADF, this year's event was again hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Türkiye, H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, respectively. For impressions, see these images and this short video clip:
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The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Adiyaman in Southeast Turkey H.E. Mor Gregorios Melke Ürek (see photo) also attended the forum. Thus, Johny and Metropolitcan Melke were the only Arameans to represent their people to the participants.
On Friday evening, Johny Messo was invited for an exlusive dinner hosted by President H.E. Recep Tayip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, both of whom warmly welcomed the WCA President. In addition, he met a number of other (former) Presidents, Ministers and diplomats. Among them were H.E. Nechirvan Barzani (left), the President of the Kurdistan Region, Iraq as well as Iraq's Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Fuad Hussein (right):
On Saturday, 12 March 2022, the WCA President was part of an interesting panel discussion on Preserving Cultural Heritage in a Digital Age; as soon as the video will be uploaded by the ADF organizers, we will share it here. The discussion was professionally moderated by Elif Bereketli, the famous TRT World journalist and anchor. In addition to Johny Messo, the other panelists (see photos below) were:
- His Majesty King Simeon II Sakskoburggotski, former Prime Minister (2001-2005) and the last king (1943-1946) of Bulgaria;
- Ms. Günay Efendiyeva, President of the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation;
- Ms. Jenelly Matundu, Namibia's Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation;
- Dr. Ömer Kocaman, Deputy Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States.
It was encouraging for WCA to receive so much positive feedback from Ministers and Ambassadors alike who did not know yet much, or they knew only a little, about the existence of the Aramean people and their Aramaic language.
With Turkish and non-Turkish delegates alike stimulating exchanges of thoughts and ideas followed regarding the development of Tur-Abdin (Aramaic for “The Mountain of the Servants [of God]”) and the Arameans who have a documented history of more than 3,000 years in this ancient region in Southeast Turkey.
Particularly noteworthy are the brief encounters with Türkiye's Foreign Minister H.E. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who again showed his sincere friendship to the WCA President which can be regarded as an expression of his recognition and appreciation of the Aramean people, and the Minister of Interior H.E. Süleyman Soylu.
Other noteworthy conversations took place with the Foreign Minister of Austria H.E. Alexander Schallenberg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanon H.E. Abdallah Bou Habib, the head of the EU Delegation to Türkiye Ambassador H.E. Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy H.E. Josep Borrell. The latter was seemingly moved when Johny Messo introduced himself to him as "an Aramean who speaks Aramaic, which you may know as language of Jesus" (see and listen here for his reaction).
Finally, click on the below image to listen to Maria Ramos, the famous Journalist and International News Presenter of TRT World, who gives her thoughts about why young Arameans should preserve their Aramaic mother tongue!
