Esra Albayrak, daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, opened the World Decolonization Forum in Istanbul thi...

Esra Albayrak, daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, opened the World Decolonization Forum in Istanbul this week by calling for a fundamental shift away from Western-dominated centers of knowledge, naming Gaza alongside Istanbul and Cairo as places the world should look to instead of Paris, London, New York, and Amsterdam. Albayrak, a sociologist and chair of the NUN Foundation, told attendees that the current international system had reached the limits of what Western capitals could offer. She argued that younger generations are being shaped by what she called a "techno-colonial regime," saying their attention, imagination, and memory have been turned into raw materials to sustain it. She pointed to Gaza specifically as evidence that people worldwide are questioning the moral legitimacy of the existing global order, citing the conflict there as proof that the international system's foundations are cracking. The forum is organized around the roots of global crises and the legacy of colonialism. Albayrak was careful to say the goal is not to build "another centre against the West" or imagine "a world without the West," but to challenge the underlying hierarchies that she believes currently privilege Western ideas, history, education, media, and technology above all others. She called decolonization "an open invitation for the West to free itself from the master complex." The two-day forum was co-organized with Bogazici University and institutions from Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa, Argentina, Russia, Britain, and Qatar. Academic sessions, exhibitions, and film screenings are running alongside the opening addresses. #Turkey #Decolonization #WorldPolitics