George Scutaru, Director General of New Strategy Center participated in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, the most important event in Turkey dedicated to international relations and security, on 1-2 March.

The event brought together over 4000 participants, with a strong presence from African and Asian countries, places where Turkey’s interest is growing.

During the panel “Challenges and Opportunities in the Balkans”, George Scutaru was invited by the organisers to make the first comments and ask the first questions as a “responder”, raising the issue of the security interdependence of the Balkans region with the Black Sea region and the disturbing danger of Russian hybrid actions in the Balkans.

Disinformation campaigns, energy pressure, political intrusion and the use of Slavic heritage are levers used by Russia to negatively affect the Balkan region.
One of the conclusions of the discussion was the need for the EU to speed up the process of European integration of the Western Balkan countries in order to reduce the influence of malign actors and to connect these countries to the European area, creating stability and prosperity.

On the sidelines of the conference, George Scutaru met with several experts and officials, discussing the development of NSC partnerships.