Former President Gjorge Ivanov participated in the 26th Eurasian Economic Summit of the Marmara Foundation, which was held in the period March 13-15 in Istanbul, where the main topic was to end mistrust, to build cooperation.

As his office informed, the main speakers at the ceremonial opening of the summit on the topic of 100 years of the Turkish Republic were Ivanov and the renowned historian academician and writer prof. Dr. Ilber Ortayli. Ivanov, congratulating the hosts on the centenary anniversary of the Republic of Turkey with wishes for prosperity, peace, success and well-being, spoke about the founders of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Ali Fethi Okyar, a native of former Ottoman Macedonia, that is, Rumelia.

The connection between Macedonia and Ataturk and Okyar is not only geographical, but it is the space where their worldview was formed, where they learned how important coexistence, acceptance and respect for others is. Ivanov recalled the visionary thought of Ataturk in which he predicted the independence of Macedonia, which years later became a reality. Macedonia has always had strong relations with Turkey, giving birth to great sons and daughters, including Ataturk and Okyar, reads the statement.

Ivanov, it added, also addressed the presidential session devoted to the analysis of the polarized world after one year since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war, in which former presidents of Turkey, Romania, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania and Moldova participated.