Foreign policy panel on Turkey held in London

By Davut Demircan

LONDON

A panel discussion titled “Turkey in Middle East” was held Wednesday in London.

The event is the fourth in the “Today’s Turkey” panel discussion series and is organized by the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications.

Held at the Naval and Military Club, the panel was moderated by Olga Maitland, president of the London-based Defense and Security Forum.

Among the speakers were Presidential Chief Advisor Professor Gulnur Aybet, Associate Professor Hasan Basri Yalcin of Istanbul Commerce University and Claire Spencer, consulting fellow at Chatham House.

The first event in the “Today’s Turkey” panel discussion series was held in New York in September ahead of a UN Security Council meeting while the second one was held in Berlin during a visit to the city by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The discussion was held under the theme “World is Bigger Than Five” in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of the G20 summit there in November.

Erdogan has long advocated reforming the structure of the UN Security Council using the motto: "The world is bigger than five," noting that the Security Council currently serves the interests of five permanent members holding veto rights – the U.S., Russia, China, France the UK.