The 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change started yesterday in Antalya, hosted by Türkiye. The two-day leaders' summit will start tomorrow at COP31, which was held in a period of wars and energy security concerns. In addition to the leaders, heads of government and parliament will also take part in the organization.
Among the leaders who will attend the summit are Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Azerbaijani President İlham Aliyev, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, TRNC President Tufan Erhürman, as well as Greek Cypriot Administration leader Nikos Hristodulidis, who has tensions with Turkey on many topics such as the Cyprus issue and the Eastern Mediterranean. Chinese Vice President Han Zheng will represent President Xi Jinping as a special envoy at the Leaders' Summit. The Russian Delegation will include Vice President and Special Representative Ruslan Edelgeriyev, senior diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sergey Kononuchenko, Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov and Sofia Litvinova.
Participation from 6 continents is expected at the Leaders' Summit, which will be held on 11-12 November, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 102 leaders, including 95 country leaders and 7 leaders of the organization at the leader level, declared their participation in COP31. 37 of these leaders are heads of state, 35 are heads of government, 8 are vice presidents, 7 are deputy prime ministers, 2 are crown princes, 1 is a prince, 1 is the speaker of the parliament, and 4 are special representatives. The European Commission, the UN, the UN General Assembly, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the International Energy Agency also reported leadership-level participation. President Erdoğan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres are scheduled to speak at the opening of the Leaders' Summit tomorrow, which will be held with the theme "Towards a Sustainable, Resilient and Just Future". Leaders will announce national policy and cooperation goals regarding the fight against climate change. Bilateral meetings will be held within the scope of the summit.
Meetings will be held on clean energy transformation and electrification, investment in green industry opportunities, employment and growth. High-level meetings on accelerating access to finance, urban resilience, adaptation and climate action will also be discussed at the leaders' level, as well as zero waste, one of Türkiye's important topics in the COP31 period.
Russia and Ukraine, which are at war with each other, will attend the summit at a high level. Iran will also send a high-level representative to the summit. The USA will not attend the summit at a high level. Palestine, Lebanon and Syria will participate at a high level. High-level officials from Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Mali and Ethiopia, which are experiencing border tensions on the African continent, will also attend the summit.
Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are in the peace and negotiation process after years of conflict, announced their participation in the summit at the leadership level. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will take their place at the summit tomorrow. The leaders of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Administration of Southern Cyprus, who are experiencing diplomatic tension, will also meet at the summit.
President Erdoğan's wife, Emine Erdoğan, will also hold programs with the leaders' wives. The experience of Zero Waste, which has become a global environmental movement, will be shared and villages with a Zero Waste approach will be shown.
On the first day, long queues formed at the entrance. Participants from many countries of the world came to the summit in their traditional costumes. 27 thousand 957 personnel from the police, gendarmerie and coast guard are working in the summit area.
Visitors entering the area from the Peace Path first walked among statues such as horses and bulls made from waste.
Sertab Erener prepared the song "One Home" for the summit. Minister Kurum thanked Erener for her song and said, "I would like to thank our valuable artist Sertab Erener, who gave strong support to COP31 with her song."
Turkish coffee and Turkish delight were served to visitors in the Türkiye pavilion.
Food security, agriculture, water efficiency and health were the main topics of the first day. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı emphasized that empowering women farmers is mandatory for climate adaptation.
Official delegations will be able to visit museums and historical sites affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism free of charge during the summit. Erdoğan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will plant olive saplings at the COP site on November 11.
More than 1500 participants from more than 55 countries will meet at TOBB's Business and Investment Summit.
The installation work titled "Extraordinary Resistance of Transformation from Past to Future", prepared by artist Günseli Kato with the contributions of Cappadocia University faculty members and students, was the only artwork exhibited in the Blue Zone.
Halkbank prepared a financing package of 100 billion TL at COP31, of which it is one of the main partners.
