“A solution should now be found for unproductive political conflicts. The terror issue is another thing. Successive news of martyrs wounds our feelings. We are exhausted. This is a call to all parties. Today is a day for unity. We have to find a solution to problems resolutely and without saying it, nothing happens. We will continue to say what we know and what we believe,” Özilhan said on May 12, during the organization’s first high advisory board meeting of the year in Istanbul.

She said the organization could foresee that the indirect cost of the decline in tourism would be high.

Symes also noted that the organization was in favor of normalizing relations betweenAnkara and Moscow through dialogue, while also praising the government’s efforts to take immediate steps for visa liberation with the EU.

However, Symes noted the country needed a new evaluation in its foreign policy.

“It is seen that there is a need for a new evaluation in Turkey’s foreign policy. We have to take a series of steps by preserving the EU membership perspective and the relations should be managed with respect. The fact that there had been some problems on secularism in the past does not legitimize the discussion of the secularism principle,” Symes said.