Record attendance in the first week of COP31. They left their mark on the summit

Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Murat Kurum, who hosted COP31 in his capacity as President, also attended business forums, urban resilience sessions, Pacific Resilience Fund meetings and green financing agreements in the first week.

The institution emphasized the message of "COP of practice, not of promises" in these contacts:

"Leadership gains meaning by first assuming responsibility. As Turkey, we will provide financial support to BRIDGE's first efforts. The certificate of intent that we will sign with UNDP will be the concrete expression of this will. As a country, we take responsibility. Because Türkiye's history is the history of leading and building bridges. Today, we are building the bridges between geographies between goals and opportunities, needs and resources, today's decisions and tomorrow's prosperity. The Leaders Summit in Antalya once again showed us that the world is looking for a common direction." Türkiye, as a center that builds trust, brings together different voices and carries the common will to results, contributes and will continue to contribute to the shaping of this direction.

We want Antalya to be a city where the will to implement climate diplomacy is strengthened when COP31 is remembered years later. The most valuable legacy we will leave to the world from Antalya will be to show that the common will is reflected in real life. Let Türkiye's COP31 presidency be the name of an era where words turn into action, goals turn into investments, and common will turns into permanent works. "I say, let's build this bridge together, let's determine the direction of the future together from Antalya."

One of the most meaningful images was recorded when Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa took the podium to give a speech at the COP31 General Assembly.

Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, used the following statements in his announcement:

"Our esteemed President reminded the world once again of a very clear truth by making a very powerful speech at this podium yesterday. Let us express it once again; Turkey is always on the side of Palestine, on the side of Gaza, we were on the side yesterday, we are on the side today, and tomorrow we will act together with our Palestinian and Gazan brothers. We want the voice rising from Antalya to be the voice that says 'stop' to climate injustice and the silence of conscience."

The Palestinian Prime Minister received a standing ovation in the hall. Completing his speech, Mustafa hugged Minister Kurum and thanked him.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that remarkable initiatives were brought to the agenda in Antalya; He cited roadmaps to move away from fossil fuels and deforestation, efforts to expand electrification, a global commitment to zero waste, accelerating the development of global power grids, and accelerating the implementation of the "Early Warning for All" initiative.

Reiterating that the solution lies in the hands of member states, especially the countries that cause the highest greenhouse gas emissions, Guterres said, "These countries must accept that emissions must be reduced immediately and radically in order to still make the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century possible." he said.

"We must confront the disproportionate influence of the fossil fuel lobby. The future of our planet cannot be negotiated on the terms of those who profit from its destruction." Guterres said, noting that no country can protect itself from climate change alone.

The sentence he used when he said that fossil fuels should become a thing of the past like dinosaurs attracted attention:

"Dinosaurs didn't have a lobby, but fossil fuels do."