This year G20 Summit was held on November 15 and 16. The Summit was hosted by Turkish President President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya, Turkey. This time, the Summit welcomed Spain, Singapore, Senegal, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and Azerbaijan as guest countries. Usually, leaders of the member countries gather to discuss mainly economic issues. Global economy, employment, climate change, and refugee crises were planned to be among the topics of discussion on the international forum this year. The agenda of Turkish presidency was based on three elements: “strengthening the global recovery and lifting potential, enhancing resilience, and buttressing sustainability.” The underlying reasoning behind the developed agenda included so-called “the three Is” of inclusiveness, implementation, and investment for growth (G20 Information Centre, University of Toronto). Understandably, recent terrorism attacks in Paris and Beirut have altered agenda and made international security and the fight against terrorism a priority but the planned aspects concerning the global economy were, nevertheless, discussed.
Back in 2014, an increased economic growth by 2% was an objective, which G20 leaders agreed upon during the Summit at Brisbane, Australia. This year, the leaders committed to increase the G20’s collective gross domestic product by an additional 2% by 2018 (G20 Informational Centre). However, there is no doubt that G20 leaders realize the interrelation between sustained economy and sustained peace. Peace within states and between states is essential for global economy to grow and prosper. As a response to the recent terrorist attacks, the G20 Joint Statement on the Fight Against Terrorism was issued, which condemned the attacks and urged international community for an increased cooperation and solidarity. Operational information sharing, border control, and strengthening of global aviation security were among the main measures of precaution outlined in the statement. Furthermore, the leaders also pledged to speed up the implementation of the Financial Action Task Force, which is focused on cutting off any financial provision to the Islamic State and particularly addressing the role of black market for oil in it as it is considered to be a substantial source of its funding. Likewise, according to Al Jazeera, “world leaders have promised to tighten border controls, step up intelligence sharing and crack down on “terrorist” financing at a summit in Turkey.” For example, intelligence sharing can be demonstrated in President Obama’s recent announcement concerning the willingness of the United States to share intelligence with France through a new “streamlined” process, which will allow France to get updates on possible security threats more frequently and more quickly (CNN). Most importantly, the leaders agreed that military action certainly will not be the only or the main element in the fight against terrorism.

Due to the events in Paris, French President François Hollande decided to stay in Paris but Finance Minister Michel Sapin and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France attended the G20 Summit instead. The Summit was also a diplomatic debut for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on international arena. However, all eyes were on the leader of Turkey, President Erdogan, not only because he was the host of this year’s Summit but also because Turkey is considered to be a key player in the Syrian refugee crisis, as well as a vulnerable target for ISIL due its proximity to Syria. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Turkey accommodated more than one million Syrians. “Fears that ISIS terrorists might pose as refugees to gain access to Turkey, Western Europe, and beyond was reignited after the Paris attacks when a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the attackers,” reported The Atlantic. In October, Turkey’s capital -Ankara- was also subjected to terrorist attacks, which were speculated to be the work of ISIL and resulted in over 130 deaths. Nevertheless, throughout the Summit President Erdogan emphasized to the other leaders the importance to continue raising awareness about the distinction between refugees and terrorists, as well as Muslim religion and ISIL’s ideology. He said, “Establishing a link between acts of terror and refugees is evading humanitarian responsibility, ” adding that “terrorism has no religion, nationality or region” (Hurriyet Daily News). Indeed, this more than unfortunate conjunction of terrible circumstances, namely refugee crisis and terrorist attacks, often puts the two in the same context of even in the same sentence. As a result, this wrongful association already showcased troubling consequences. For example, sustainability of the Schengen open borders agreement in the future becomes more questionable as members such as Slovenia, Sweden and Hungary appear to ignore it in order to prevent further refugee influx. As in today’s globalized world everything is interconnected, the so-called “chain reaction” is often inevitable. Therefore, “if Schengen collapses, so does free movement of people and goods, and potentially – as Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, said last week – the EU itself,” (The Guardian).

Meeting of the world leaders on the G20 Summit in Turkey was crucial especially in the shadow of the recent attacks. While we continue to observe how different countries one after another continue to become victims of terrorist attacks, a concrete action plan on how to fight the terrorism is to be determined. This international dialogue provided an opportunity for leaders to come together face-to-face once again and brainstorm on possible solutions because the questions of citizens “What do we do now?” cannot be answered without the leaders figuring out those answers firstly themselves. As Al Jazeera correctly concluded, “Bringing world leaders together on broad plans to stem the refugee crisis, end the war, and stop ISIL requires a serious moral conscience, an iron will, and strong, persuasive diplomacy.” Even though, G20 is mainly an international forum for addressing needs of global economy, at this moment, addressing economic needs without firstly addressing more pressing problems such as refugee crisis and terrorism would be in vain. Furthermore, all former and future attempts to improve global economy will either turn out to be ineffective or will be reversed unless the refugee crisis and the danger of terrorism are not prioritized and dealt with at the same time but separately.