Türkiye's Vatican envoy says dignity, dialogue key to peace

Türkiye's Ambassador to the Vatican Fahrettin Altun on Tuesday urged global leaders to harness religion and diplomacy for peace, stressing that human dignity and interfaith dialogue offer the only sustainable foundation for coexistence amid widening geopolitical divisions and a mounting crisis of confidence in international institutions.

Crisis of identity

Speaking at an event organized by Carita Politica, Altun argued that modern consumer culture has triggered an "anthropological and moral crisis" by defining individuals through possession and desire rather than intrinsic values. He said religious traditions present an alternative vision emphasizing responsibility, sacrifice and transcendence beyond selfish boundaries.

"Can humanity learn to live together, in peace, while remaining different?" Altun asked during his address, identifying this question as urgent amid ongoing wars, displacement and inequality. Citing the Quranic concept of lita'arafu, meaning "so that you may know one another," he argued that difference should serve as an invitation to encounter rather than a source of conflict.

Diplomacy beyond power

"When we encounter difference, we essentially have two choices," Altun said. "We can perceive the other as a threat. Or we can attempt to know the other." He added that the first path produces fear while the second enables dialogue, noting that diplomacy must evolve beyond state-to-state management into "the art of recognizing the existence of the other."

Altun stressed that genuine dialogue never demands abandonment of religious or cultural identities. "A Muslim can remain a Muslim. A Christian can remain a Christian," he stated, adding that believers and non-believers alike can meet around shared human dignity without sacrificing their convictions.

Unity and justice

"Unity does not require uniformity," Altun said, calling for "commonality without uniformity," "difference without hostility" and "identity without exclusion." He warned that reducing international relations to calculations of power inevitably allows the interests of powerful nations to override requirements of justice, creating conditions for perpetual conflict rather than sustainable peace.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's secretary for relations with states, joined Altun in emphasizing the diplomatic role of religious institutions. Gallagher described the Vatican as "probably the oldest institution of operational diplomacy" and warned that "we are witnessing the self-determination of the multilateral system turning into crises that no one can now end."