“World Decolonization Forum” in Istanbul brings together representatives of authoritarian regimes, imperialist powers, and ultra-conservative voices.

The forum was opened with a speech by Esra Albayrak, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter and a board member of the NUN Foundation, one of the forum’s institutional partners and organizers.
The NUN Foundation states on its website that it aims to “empower young people with a strong moral and conscientious compass, intellectual curiosity, and aesthetic appreciation thus, to contribute to a brighter future for Turkey by fostering responsible and well-rounded individuals.”

In her opening speech, Albayrak argued that the “international system had reached the limits of the knowledge produced in cities such as Paris, London, New York, and Amsterdam,” adding: “The world now also needs new centres and the wisdom produced in Istanbul, Jakarta, Addis Ababa, Rabat, Cairo and Gaza.”

The program of the conference offers noteworthy lectures with interesting narratives. Dr. Yakoob Ahmed, a historian and researcher of Islamic intellectual history, calls for “Decolonizing History and Historiography” using “Examples from the Ottoman Case.” It is remarkable that he chooses a historical example of non-Western imperial expansion and domination in the context of “decolonizing history and historiography,” primarily to challenge what he describes as “Eurocentric” perspectives. His abstract focuses on developing a “distinctly Islamic methodology of historiography,” arguing that history should be written from epistemologies rooted in the Islamic intellectual tradition rather than predominantly Eurocentric academic frameworks.

Another speaker at the conference was Yusuf Islam, better known as the singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. He remains known for controversial statements he made in 1989 regarding the fatwa (death sentence) issued against British-Indian author Salman Rushdie, remarks from which he later distanced himself. At the Decolonization Forum in Istanbul, he gave a critical speech about the music industry.

Also known for controversial remarks is another participant announced in the conference program, French Islamologist François Burgat. After publicly expressing greater respect for the leaders of Hamas than for those of Israel, his remarks later became the subject of court proceedings in France.

Remarkable, but not surprising when seeing in which direction the narrative of this conference goes, is that the Russian Academy of Sciences and Shanghai University are listed as institutions on the website and have representatives on the Scientific Committee. Chinese and Russian colonialism or imperialism are, of course, not in focus when the “Eurocentric worldview” is being challenged. This is particularly visible as the program even announces a speaker from the Russian Embassy itself, Evgenii Bakhrevski, Culture, Science and Education Attaché at the Russian Embassy in Ankara, to speak about “Russia and Fundamental Decolonization.” In his short abstract in the booklet, he states: “Since the 2000s, Russia has been working purposefully on fundamental decolonization.” In this short text, he not only completely ignores Russia’s own long history of colonial and imperial policies, which are still highly relevant today, but even frames Russia itself as a victim of what he describes as Western “conceptual colonialism”.

One part of his essay is especially revealing in explaining what he means by “decolonization”:

“The civilizational approach is reflected in such documents as the “Strategy of State Cultural Policy” (2024) and the “Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values” (2022).”

The government policies he refers to promote the protection of “traditional Russian spiritual and moral values” and emphasize concepts such as Russia as a distinct “state-civilization,” patriotism, historical memory, traditional family values, and resistance to what are described as destructive foreign ideological influences. These are talking points that strongly overlap with those commonly promoted by the Western far right.

This also raises the question of when Western far left circles and academia will develop a more critical approach to so called postcolonial studies and activism, as well as related rallies and conferences that deserve much closer scrutiny, such as the Decolonization Forum in Istanbul.

In an article published after the conference, titled “World Decolonization Forum concludes with a call to overcome the dominance of Western knowledge,” the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies summarized the conference, referring to the “problems of Western epistemic dominance”, noting that “…participants discussed how Eurocentrism has shaped what is considered “legitimate knowledge” and marginalised intellectual and historical experiences from societies of the Global South.”, and highlighting “…the hegemony of the English language…”.

One thing is certain: anyone who thinks that this conference united the progressives of the world could not be more wrong.

Selected Sources:

NÛN Foundation
Official website of the NÛN Education and Culture Foundation.
https://www.nunokullari.com/en/hakkimizda

“Beyond Eurocentrism: Rethinking International Relations from the Global South”
Video recording of a panel discussion at the World Decolonization Forum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSt3gah4skk&time_continue=294&source_ve_path=NzY3NTg&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.decolonizationforum.org%2F

“Decolonizing History and Historiography: Examples from the Ottoman Case”
Forum article summarizing the presentation by Yaqoob Ahmed, including the statement that he “questioned assumptions about objectivity that marginalize faith-based perspectives…”
https://www.decolonizationforum.org/perspective/voice-series/decolonizing-history-and-historiography-examples-from-the-ottoman-case

TRT Afrika: “World needs new global centres of wisdom beyond West: Esra Albayrak”
TRT is widely regarded by observers as having a pro-government editorial line and being close to the Erdoğan government. TRT Afrika is TRT’s digital news platform for African audiences.
https://www.trtafrika.com/english/article/b88b84b41871

World Decolonization Forum 2026 – Official Booklet
Programme, speakers, partner institutions and abstracts.
https://decolonizationforum.org/storage/uploads/files/booklet_dijital.pdf

Yusuf Islam at the World Decolonization Forum
Official Instagram video.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZaEZBVu1mO/

Al Jazeera Centre for Studies: “World Decolonization Forum concludes with a call to overcome the dominance of Western knowledge”
Conference summary published after the event.
https://studies.aljazeera.net/en/events/world-decolonization-forum-concludes-call-overcome-dominance-western-knowledge