Director of Communications Altun: "As Türkiye, under the leadership of our President, we are in a great breakthrough in the field of public diplomacy as in all fields."
The Public Diplomacy Coordination Board convened at the Presidential Complex under the chairmanship of Presidency's Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun.
The third meeting of the Board was attended by deputy ministers, directors and deputy directors of institutions and organisations related to or affiliated to the Presidency, as well as representatives of public institutions and some non-governmental organisations.
In the context of the national public diplomacy coordination process, the meeting covered collaborative efforts since 2019 and the progress made within the framework of the National Public Diplomacy Strategy Paper and Action Plan, as well as recommendations and goals for the next period.
During his opening remarks, Director of Communications Altun highlighted that since the foundation of the Presidential System of Government, Türkiye's endeavours in the field of public diplomacy have been coordinated by the Directorate of Communications.
Director of Communications Altun said, “As Türkiye, under the leadership of our President, we are in a great breakthrough in the field of public diplomacy as in all fields,” and emphasized that the most critical element in advancing Türkiye's achievements in this field was to work in collaboration with all stakeholder institutions and organizations.
“One of the elements that we have most strongly implemented in the field of public diplomacy today is coordination, which is one of the hallmarks of the Presidential System of Government. I would like to thank all of our institutions, as well as their esteemed directors and representatives, for their efforts that led to this success,” Director of Communications Altun said.
The Century of Communication
Director of Communications Altun stated that they see and try to carry out public diplomacy efforts in the context of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “communication mobilization”, and that they strive to deepen these efforts around President Erdoğan's motto “The Century of Türkiye will be the Century of Communication.”
Director of Communications Altun said that they think that one of the most essential pillars of the "Century of Communication" will be efforts in the field of public diplomacy.
"Focal point is to strengthen the Türkiye brand"
Underlining that the focal point of the efforts in the field of public diplomacy is the principle of "strengthening the Türkiye brand", Director of Communications Altun continued:
"First and foremost, it is one of our most crucial objectives to further enhance our country's reputation. It is also one of our primary objectives to defend our nation's and state's theses and arguments in the international arena under all circumstances and conditions. Another objective of our public diplomacy strategy is to demonstrate and promote our country's might, capabilities, and potential to the globe as a whole. Of course, the aim is to further strengthen and expand Türkiye's current position as an attraction centre. We have a strong presence in many fields in this direction, from education to health, culture to art, trade to sports, and science to communications.
From positive communication campaigns to combatting disinformation, from international events to strengthening ties and cooperation with strategic actors, we conduct multidimensional efforts across a broad spectrum. Obviously, in these efforts, we also prioritise truth, justice, and humanity, which are at the heart of our foreign policy."
"We make realistic and genuine contributions to regional and global peace and stability"
Director of Communications Altun stated that they are trying to tell the true story of Türkiye to the world public opinion in an accurate, effective, and original manner by utilising the most effective tools and methods offered by public diplomacy, and noted:
"We are striving to implement our public diplomacy in accordance with our foreign policy, which includes the aim of contributing to regional and global peace and stability and upholding our country's interests. Our public diplomacy not only upholds the rights and interests of our country and nation but also makes realistic and genuine contributions to regional and global peace and stability."
Today, we all see how Türkiye and our President are playing a strategic and global role in establishing peace and stability in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. In this regard, we think that our public diplomacy approach in the context of our President’s global leadership should be guided not only by the interests of our country, but also by the interests of our region and the aim of global peace. Essentially, our approach to public diplomacy is global, and it distinguishes itself by being founded on regional peace and stability
President Erdoğan's leadership diplomacy
In order to offer a new model in the area of public diplomacy, Director of Communications Altun stressed that they want to contribute to the Turkish models that they have built in a variety of disciplines, from humanitarian aid to diplomacy, from economy to health.
Pointing out that President Erdoğan's leadership diplomacy is one of Türkiye's greatest advantages in the field of public diplomacy, Director of Communications Altun said, “Our President uses all the possibilities of leader diplomacy in bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues, and we observed this while resolving many crises.”
Stating that Türkiye's performance and efforts in the field of public diplomacy also reflect on the statistics made in this field, Director of Communications Altun added:
“According to the Global Soft Power Index, our country ranked 30th in 2020, 27th in 2021 and 22nd in 2022 among 105 countries. I believe that this development will reach higher levels with the initiatives that we will carry out as the Public Diplomacy Coordination Board.”
Public diplomacy activities
Director of Communications Altun also provided information on the public diplomacy activities carried out by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, noting that they have developed the Public Diplomacy Coordination System (KADİS) to more effectively and efficiently coordinate Türkiye's public diplomacy activities. Explaining that they have created the Public Diplomacy Coordination Board, where all stakeholder institutions and organisations are represented at a high level within this system, the Director of Communications Altun noted that they consider this board the highest board for the execution of public diplomacy activities.
Noting that they created the Project Tracking System (PTS) in order to analyse Türkiye’s public diplomacy activities, the Director of Communications Altun said that once all stakeholders entered their public diplomacy activities into this system, all the projects entered into the PTS were analysed as a whole.
Director of Communications Altun stated that they prepared the National Public Diplomacy Strategy Paper and Action Plan, which is "the first public diplomacy policy paper in the history of the Republic", with the joint efforts of all stakeholder institutions and organisations.
Reiterating that they began the implementation phase with the release of the Strategy Paper and Action Plan at the second Public Diplomacy Coordination Board meeting held on July 6, 2021, Director of Communications Altun went on to say:
"The projects, activities, evaluations and analyses that are now being carried out based on our Strategy Paper and Action Plan are vital. We have developed the web-based Public Diplomacy Monitoring System (KADİZ) to implement and monitor them more effectively. As of June 1, 2022, we made KADİZ available to all of our stakeholder institutions. To date, 679 registries have been made to KADİZ by 274 moderators and 405 users from 59 institutions. As of yesterday, a total of 2 thousand 591 project entries were made."
Director of Communications Altun said that the data obtained from KADIZ and the reports guided the national public diplomacy strategy.
"We will elevate our country to its rightful position in public diplomacy"
Director of Communications Altun stated that with the third meeting of the Public Diplomacy Coordination Board, they seek to provide an assessment of past activities and conduct consultations for future projects, adding that they intend to keep up their current pace of public diplomacy activities with all stakeholders involved.
Director of Communications Altun emphasised that they will also elevate the country to its rightful position in public diplomacy.
Pointing out that they will continue their efforts to advance public diplomacy activities under the guidance of the Strategy Paper, as next year marks the 100th anniversary of the Republic, Director of Communications Altun said, "I would also like to express that we are open to cooperation to provide support and that we are ready to make any contribution in this regard to increase the visibility of the activities of all our stakeholder institutions and organisations and to support their communication strategies."
Director of Communications Altun stated that Türkiye has assumed the term Presidency of the Conference of the Ministers of Information of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for two years this year and that they will carry out significant public diplomacy activities in this context.
Director of Communications Altun noted that they also are engaged in various collaborations with member states of the Organisation of Turkic States in the fields of public diplomacy and media and stated that they request the contributions of all institutions in this regard.
In addition, Director of Communications Altun stated that they institutionalised the Presidency's Communication Centre (CIMER), which they consider extremely significant as a communication platform, and emphasised their desire to make CIMER more accessible to citizens abroad.
Director of Communications Altun added that they plan to hold the Public Diplomacy Coordination Board's fourth meeting in the first quarter of 2023.
Following the speech of Director of Communications Altun, the members of the board also took the floor and spoke on their work in the field of public diplomacy.
