Former Turkish PM delivers 20th Annual Bakeer Markar Commemoration Lecture

The former Prime Minister of Turkey, Prof. Ahmet Davutoglu, delivered the 20th Annual Bakeer Markar Commemoration Lecture on the theme ‘Multiculturalism as a Basis for Peace’ on Tuesday at the Lotus Room of the BMICH.

At the event organised by the Bakeer Markar Centre for National Unity, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, ministers, MPs, diplomats and civil society leaders were present along with Bakeer Markar’s family. 

Prof. Davutoglu, who was also a former Foreign Minister of Turkey, has been considered among the ‘100 Leading Global Leaders’ by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2010, 2011 and 2012. 

The annual lecture organised by the Bakeer Markar Centre for National Unity focuses on fostering national unity and encouraging fresh thinking on unity in diversity, which are key areas the late Deshamanya M.A. Bakeer Markar sincerely dedicated himself to. 

Following the death of M.A. Bakeer Markar, the Bakeer Markar Centre for National Unity was established with the support of the close associates the Bakeer Markar family. The centre, which was established in 1997, aims to promote, encourage, assist and foster activities for the advancement of national unity, inter-communal amity, racial and religious harmony and peace amongst people, the vision of the late M.A. Bakeer Markar. 

Prof. Davutoglu is a Turkish academic, politician and former diplomat who was the Prime Minister of Turkey and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) from August 2014 to May 2016. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2009 to 2014 and as Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from 2003 to 2009. He was elected as an AKP Member of Parliament for Konya at the 2011 general election and was re-elected as an MP in both the June and November 2015 general elections. He resigned as Prime Minister on 22 May 2016.

Prof. Davutoglu in 1983 graduated from Bosphorus University with a double major in Political Science and Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. He then completed his MA in the Department of Public Administration and received his PhD from the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Bosporus University.

He published several books and articles on foreign policy in Turkish and English. His books and articles have also been translated into several languages including Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Persian and Albanian. 

Pix by Ruwan Walpola