Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Serbia and the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence on April 6 at Central Military Hall, organized a lecture “Turkish Defence and Foreign Policy” held by H.E. Mr. Mehmet Fatih Ceylan, Deputy Undersecretary for Security Policy at Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The discussion was moderated by dr Tanja Miščević, State Secretary at Ministry of Defence and Sonja Licht, President of Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence. Representatives of Ministry of Defence and Serbian Armed Forces, military and diplomatic corps, academic institutions and NGOs attended the lecture.
In his presentation, Ambassador Ceylan spoke of partnership between Serbia and Turkey and the importance of neighborly relations and establishing a balance between security and liberty. Ambassador Ceylan stressed the necessity of global security, in which regional cooperation mechanisms are also important, particularly noting the importance of preserving stability and developing trust in the Western Balkans. The focus of the foreign policy of Turkey is the stability of the Middle East, which is in its immediate environment, and countering global threats to peace such as terrorism and nuclear power. Turkey conducts an active foreign policy, and its feature of multidimensionality, as Ambassador Ceylan said, "is not a substitute for our EU policy, which remains the main priority of foreign policy of Turkey." This policy aims at contributing to world peace and promoting international and regional cooperation, with respect to the positive difference, he said.
Ambassador Fatih Ceylan was born in 1957. in Bursa. He graduated from Istanbul Robert College and the University for Political Science and International Relations in Ankara, and he has a postgraduate degree from the Department of International Relations of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA.
In 1979 he was working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to the Department for relations with Cyprus. Ambassador Fatih Ceylan worked at the Turkish Embassy in Pakistan and in Belgium, was the Turkish Consul General in Düsseldorf, and he was Ambassador to Sudan from 2006. to 2009.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey ha was the head of the Department for NATO, Director General for Bilateral Politics and Deputy Undersecretary for Security Policy and Bilateral Relations with Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.
He is one of the most active Turkish diplomats and deals with sensitive issues like missile defense shield in Turkish territory and the "Armenian question".