Politics
Decolonization forum in Istanbul pushes for new thoughts
The World Decolonization Forum concluded on Tuesday after two days of discussions in Istanbul.
At Tuesday’s sessions, participants held debates on decolonizing media, decolonizing knowledge production and technocolonialism, among other topics.
“Why must we keep proving that our ideas are as good as ideas that come from the West? Many Muslims fear that what they have is only secondary. That fear is itself a product of coloniality. Decolonization is to reimagine. To reconstruct and redefine futures that exist beyond the artificial constraints of colonial modernity,” Khairudin Aljunied, a professor of Islam in Southeast Asia at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, told the forum’s “Decolonial Voice” session.
Fırat Oruç, associate professor of culture and politics and director of the Arab and Regional Studies Certificate Program at Georgetown University in Qatar, addressed the “Voices of Liberation” session and noted the importance of “energy justice.”
“Oil from the Middle East, lithium from Latin America, cobalt from Africa. These are not abstract commodities. They are linked relationships. If humans are interconnected through invisible fibers, then exploitation anywhere reverberates everywhere. Energy justice requires ethical responsibility across borders,” Oruç said.
“When translations come from the Global North, they spread widely, but as those working in the Global South, we must now prioritize works that have remained on dusty shelves. They are treasures of genuine knowledge within them. We want to decolonize, but when someone who speaks Indonesian or someone who says they’ll translate a book from the Arab world approaches publishers, there’s no response. Yet books from the North are published immediately,” Mahmoud Alhirthani, associate professor of translation and intercultural studies at Alaqsa University in Gaza, told a session entitled “Decolonizing the Canon: Translation and the Field of English Literature.”
Held at the Atatürk Cultural Center under the theme “Decolonizing the Production and Circulation of Knowledge,” the forum brought together thinkers from South America, Africa, Asia and Europe to examine how colonial influence persists in education, media, economics and intellectual life.
Participants included professor Şule Albayrak, a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Marmara University, decolonial theorist Walter Mignolo, sociologist Salman Sayyid, political scientist Anne Norton, Palestinian thinker Munir Fasheh, historian Halil Berktay and British singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens.
Discussions focused on how Eurocentric models continue to dominate universities and social sciences through claims of objectivity and universality, while sidelining indigenous and non-Western knowledge traditions.
Psychiatrist and author Dr. Kemal Sayar argued that the universalist approach of Western psychiatry imposes a secular and individualist worldview on non-Western societies, describing it as a form of “epistemic violence.”
Yusuf Islam reflected on his experience in the global music industry, saying cultural production is often shaped by systems of control similar to colonial structures and emphasizing the importance of intellectual and artistic independence.
The forum also featured academic sessions on decolonial education, economics, ecology, feminist knowledge systems and Islamic epistemologies, with researchers from 40 countries presenting their work.
A news conference in Ankara on Tuesday focusing on Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction led to confirmation of a rumored draft bill on the matter, which will reportedly authorize the president to declare “bodies of water with special status.”
Ankara University’s National Center for the Sea and Maritime Law (DEHUKAM) hosted the news conference, which was attended by its director, Mustafa Başkara, and professor Çağrı Erhan, acting chair of the Turkish Presidency’s Board of Security and Foreign Policies. DEHUKAM is the main body that prepares maritime maps to support Türkiye’s maritime jurisdiction policies.
Turkish media outlets recently reported that the country was preparing a draft bill for the “Blue Homeland,” the name given to bodies of water, from parts of the Mediterranean to Black Sea, over which Türkiye has sovereignty.
Erhan told the news conference that the bill was the outcome of the work on preserving the Turkish nation’s rights and interests stemming from international law.
Başkara said that their work complied with Türkiye’s maritime policies, and the center was the first institution accredited by the U.N. Environment Programme. He noted that the maritime spatial planning of the European Union sided with the claims of Greece (a member of the bloc) and Türkiye opposed this. He pointed out that Türkiye established its maritime jurisdiction areas in the Black Sea recently, as well as off the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Libya.
“For us, the Blue Homeland is wherever a ship flying the Turkish flag reaches,” he said.
He noted that the draft bill would define special entities as to determine maritime jurisdiction, maritime borders and scope of any activities within these borders and those entities would be valid under verdicts by international courts and international laws.
Professor Yücel Acer, board member of DEHUKAM, said Türkiye was surrounded by seas, but it did not have a comprehensive legal regulation regarding maritime jurisdiction.
“Blue Homeland” is the name of a doctrine conceived by two former Turkish naval officers. The doctrine encompasses Türkiye’s maritime jurisdictions, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in line with United Nations resolutions. These connected issues have been a source of dispute between Türkiye and Greece for decades. Ankara and Athens seek to improve relations after years of hostilities, but maritime jurisdictions remain a thorny issue. The countries, which came close to an all-out war in the 1990s over the Aegean Sea, remain vigilant, with Türkiye concentrating on developing a domestic defense industry. Greece relies on foreign partners to boost its defenses. Embracing the doctrine of being effective and powerful at sea as its predecessor, the Ottomans, were once, Türkiye in the past two decades has developed an independent defense industry capable of operating in open waters, thereby shifting geopolitical balances in its favor. The navy plays a critical role in ensuring the security of maritime trade routes in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, promoting regional stability.
Acer said that Türkiye had deals with “some neighbors,” but a law was needed. He said the “Blue Homeland” doctrine highlighted the issue, adding that some countries acted slowly in the process, fueling problems on maritime jurisdiction. On a question whether such a bill would contravene the Montreaux Convention, an international treaty, Acer said it won’t, and it would only endorse Türkiye’s legal thesis that the Çanakkale Strait, the Marmara Sea and the Bosporus are Türkiye’s bodies of water, he said.
Signed on July 20, 1936, at the Montreaux Palace in Switzerland, the treaty gives Türkiye permission to remilitarize the Bosporus and Çanakkale Strait. It came into effect on Nov. 9, 1936, and was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on Dec. 11, 1936. It gives Türkiye control over the Bosporus and Çanakkale Strait and regulates the transit of naval warships. The convention guarantees free passage to civilian vessels in times of peace and restricts the passage of naval ships that do not belong to littoral Black Sea states.
Erhan told the news conference that maritime laws have been dynamic and Türkiye needed to follow developments in the laws. He said the draft bill was not specifically aimed at any country.
“We are talking about a text based on the rights and interests of the Turkish nation. Other countries may believe that the world belongs to them only. We do not heed what they are worried about,” he said, in thinly veiled remarks against Greece.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke over the phone on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Ministry sources said. The two top diplomats discussed the latest developments in peace talks between Iran and the United States, sources added.
Ankara is an active and major actor working for a peaceful resolution to the U.S.-Israel-Iran war. Fidan has been at the forefront of the diplomatic blitz to achieve this, along with Pakistan, a major ally of Türkiye, which hosted the last round of U.S.-Iran talks.
Iran has sent its response to a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the more than two-month war to the mediator, Pakistan, Iran’s IRNA news agency said Sunday.
According to Iran’s proposal, the current phase of negotiations will focus exclusively on the cessation of hostilities in the region, a source familiar with the matter told IRNA.
Sources in both camps have told Reuters the latest peace efforts are aimed at a temporary memorandum of understanding to halt the war and allow traffic through the Strait of Hormuz while they discuss a fuller deal, which would have to address intractable disputes such as Iran’s nuclear program.
Talks with the United States aim to defend Iran’s rights, “not surrender,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday.
“If there is any talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or backing down, but rather the goal is to secure the rights of the Iranian nation and powerfully defend national interests,” Pezeshkian said in a statement carried by IRNA.
Iran “will never bow before the enemy,” he vowed during a meeting of the task force for reconstruction of damage caused during the U.S.-Israeli war.
Regional tensions have escalated since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering retaliation from Tehran against Israel as well as U.S. allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A cease-fire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement. The truce was later extended by U.S. President Donald Trump without a set deadline, paving the way for diplomacy toward a permanent solution to the war.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will visit Qatar Tuesday for talks expected to focus on preparations for a high-level strategic meeting, regional security and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources confirmed Monday.
During the visit, Fidan is expected to review preparations for the 12th meeting of the Türkiye-Qatar High Strategic Committee, set to be held in Türkiye later this year under the chairmanships of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, according to the sources.
The talks are also expected to cover Türkiye’s support for Qatar following Iranian attacks in March and April, the sources said. Fidan is also expected to underline Ankara’s sensitivity over restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as critical to regional security and economic stability.
The minister is also expected to emphasize that recent regional developments have once again demonstrated the growing importance of Türkiye-Qatar military and defense cooperation. He is also expected to underline how joint efforts on connectivity carry strategic importance for regional stability.
The sources said Fidan will stress that bringing down tensions in the Gulf to a lasting end remains an urgent priority and will exchange views on ongoing diplomatic initiatives.
The meetings are also expected to focus on Israel’s actions in the region, including its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Fidan is expected to call for stronger joint efforts, based on regional ownership, to address conflicts and disputes, and urge that Israel’s actions and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza be brought to the attention of the international community.
He is also expected to warn against the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that claim Türkiye undermines peace efforts. He is also expected to emphasize the importance of preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity amid Israeli attacks.
Türkiye and Qatar established a strategic partnership in 2014 and their High Strategic Committee has met annually since 2015. The two countries have signed 115 agreements through 11 committee meetings.
Bilateral trade reached $1.15 billion in 2025, with both countries aiming to raise the volume to $5 billion. To that end, a trade and economic partnership agreement entered into force on Aug. 1, 2025.
Fidan last visited Qatar on March 19, 2026.
A group of demonstrators known as the “Diyarbakır Mothers” marked another Mother’s Day on Sunday without a reunion with their children who were brainwashed to join the terrorist group PKK years ago.
The “mothers,” who were later joined by male members of families, started a sit-in protest in 2019 outside the building of a party with links to the PKK, in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Since then, the number of families joining the protest reached 385. They claim the party, the now-defunct Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), had tricked their sons and daughters, mostly teenagers, into joining the terrorist group.
The protest was unprecedented, especially in Diyarbakır, a province with a predominantly Kurdish population. The PKK claims to fight for Kurdish rights and, for decades, has exploited the disillusioned Kurdish youth to join them. The Diyarbakır Mothers’ act was the first instance of defiance against the PKK in the wider region where the local population is intimidated by the terrorist group. Over time, it paid off, with 77 families reuniting with their children who surrendered to Turkish authorities, mostly on Türkiye’s border with northern Iraq, where the PKK has hideouts. Surrendered members of the PKK are often handed out lenient sentences, including house arrests, if they invoke a law for collaborators and if they are not involved in acts of terrorism.
Mevlüde Üçdağ still awaits good news from her son Ramazan. Ramazan was brainwashed to join the group when he was 17. Üçdağ sought to reunite with him for years, even traveling to Iraq once, but could not find her son. Pro-PKK websites reported in 2018 that Üçdağ was killed, but the mother was determined to get him back, dead or alive. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) on Sunday, Üçdağ said she missed him very much. “It would mean the world to me if he were here with me now. Mother’s Day is just an ordinary day for me without him,” she said.
Ayten Elhaman, who joined the mothers to reunite with her son Bayram, said they never lost their determination and always had hopes for the return of their children. “The terror-free Türkiye process is a new hope for us. We wake up with new hopes every morning. Seventy-seven children returned to their families, and Allah willing, we will have ours back too,” she said, adding that reuniting with her son would be “the greatest gift for Mother’s Day.”
Sariye Tokay said she has been holding the sit-in protest in the hope of reuniting with her son Mehmet, adding that they have continued their struggle for their children regardless of summer or winter, illness or pandemics.
Stating that they will not give up their struggle until they are reunited with their children, Tokay said they are marking yet another Mother’s Day with sorrow. “My son used to celebrate both my Mother’s Day and his grandmother’s every year, but unfortunately, we have been apart for 15 years. We don’t have a ‘Mother’s Day.’ Our only wish is for all mothers to be reunited with their children.”
Fatma Laçin, who seeks to reunite with her son Muhammed, said her only child was taken away from her. Emphasizing that she is fighting to reunite with her son, Laçin said, “I hope no mother has to cry anymore.”
Academics and intellectuals from across the world gathered in Istanbul on Monday to examine how colonial legacies continue to shape global knowledge production, with speakers at the World Decolonization Forum urging universities, societies and cultural institutions to break away from Eurocentric frameworks.
The session, titled “The Problem of Knowledge Production: Decolonized Methodologies,” was held at the Atatürk Cultural Center as part of the World Decolonization Forum, which focused on the roots of global crises and the lasting impact of colonialism.
Speakers included decolonial theory scholar Walter Mignolo, Salman Sayyid from the University of Leeds, Syed Farid Alatas and U.S. political scientist and author Anne Norton.
Norton argued that colonialism remains embedded in modern global structures, saying today’s world continues to operate within systems built by colonial powers.
“Colonialism has not ended,” she said, adding that the colonization of the mind has become deeply normalized in everyday life.
She also pointed to the role of corporate power and universities, particularly in the United States, in sustaining these systems.
Sayyid emphasized that many universities around the world remain modeled on Western frameworks, not only rhetorically but institutionally.
He said decolonizing universities would transform knowledge production from a profit-oriented enterprise into a public good.
“A university should not merely become a diploma factory,” he said, stressing that cultural, social and academic decolonization must progress together.
Alatas described the decolonization of knowledge as fundamentally tied to critical thinking, arguing that Europe continues to maintain cultural, political and intellectual dominance through what he called modern forms of neocolonialism.
“Eurocentric knowledge functions to sustain neocolonial structures,” he said.
Mignolo explored the connection between modernity and colonialism, arguing that liberation and decolonization are understood differently across regions and societies.
He cautioned against conflating decolonization with “de-Westernization,” saying the latter is often driven by state-led geopolitical or economic projects, such as those associated with China, Russia or BRICS countries.
According to Mignolo, decolonization goes beyond state policy and instead involves a broader process of intellectual independence shaped through education, knowledge production and social consciousness.
While classical colonial administrations have largely disappeared, he said, coloniality continues through military power, financial systems, dollar dominance and global media networks.
He added that decolonization should not be viewed as opposition to the West, but rather as an effort by societies to reclaim intellectual and cultural autonomy.
The Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul said Sunday that renovation work on the Halki seminary will be completed in September, but noted that the Greek Orthodox school still does not have an operating license.
Located on Heybeliada, one of the Princes’ Islands near Istanbul, the seminary opened in the mid-19th century and was the main theological school for the Eastern Orthodox Church until it was closed under Turkish law in 1971.
“We are also optimistic regarding the reopening of the Holy Theological School of Halki,” the 86-year-old patriarch Bartholomew I told donors in Athens last Thursday.
“In the coming months, the extensive renovation works on the school’s building complex will be completed, and, God willing, we shall celebrate its inauguration this coming September,” he said.
Although his remarks were widely interpreted to mean the seminary would reopen, Nikos Papachristou, a spokesman for the Istanbul-based patriarchate, told AFP there were no plans to reopen the seminary, only to inaugurate the newly renovated building.
“What he said in Athens is that we are expecting that the renovation will be finished by September, so at the end of September, he will be able to inaugurate the renovated building,” he explained.
“He is always expressing the wish that it would be a nice coincidence if, when he inaugurates the renovated building, the licence for reopening the school will come,” he added.
Blocked for years, Bartholomew I raised the matter with U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to the White House last September. Trump pledged to help, raising hopes that the deadlock could be broken and the hilltop seminary reopened. Established in 1844, it has turned out scores of Orthodox leaders, including Bartholomew I.
Momentum in reopening grew after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also discussed the issue with Trump at the White House last September.
Erdoğan said Türkiye would “do our part” regarding its reopening. He had previously linked the move to reciprocal measures from Greece to improve the rights of Turks and Muslims there.
Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) governments have enacted reforms to improve the rights of religious groups, including opening places of worship and returning some property that was confiscated by the state in the past decades.
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