On March 14, 2018, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) with the support from the Embassy of Turkey to Russia held a round table discussion with Numan Kurtulmuş, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, on soft and smart power in Russia-Turkey relations.
On March 14, 2018, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) with the support from the Embassy of Turkey to Russia held a round table discussion with Numan Kurtulmuş, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, on soft and smart power in Russia-Turkey relations.
Andrey Kortunov, RIAC Director General, made an opening speech and moderated the event. Numan Kurtulmuş made a presentation for the experts to tell about the development of Russia-Turkey bilateral relations in the last two years and the importance of intercultural dialog.
The meeting was attended by Turkish officials and leading Russian experts on politics, history, and cultural interaction between the two countries. The sides discussed the current state of relations between the intellectual and academic groups of Russia and Turkey, the role of public and digital diplomacy in international relations, the role of the media in Russian-Turkish relations and in the relationship between the two countries with the West. Experts and the Minister discussed issues of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees and the relations between Turkish citizens and Syrian refugees in Turkey. In addition, the discussion touched upon the prospects for cooperation between Russia and Turkey in third regions and countries.
Russian side was represented by RIAC experts, specialists from MGIMO, IAAS at Lomonosov MSU, Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev, RAS IMEMO, RAS Institute of Oriental Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, and Group of Strategic Vision “Russia – Islamic world”.
Hüseyin Diriöz, Turkish Ambassador to Moscow, made concluding remarks. Hüseyin Diriöz pointed out the intensity of bilateral relations in different areas and expressed his confidence in the successful implementation of the Russia-Turkey Year of Culture in 2019. He expressed gratitude to RIAC for the organization of the meeting and to all the experts for the discussion.
RIAC and Turkish Ministry of Culture agreed on further cooperation.
