Meeting of the Helsinki Policy Forum Working Group - 13th September 2016

On the 13th of September, a meeting of the Working Group of the Helsinki Policy Forum was held in Helsinki, hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. The meeting brought together representatives from the Gulf-MENA region - including individuals from Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Turkey - to meet with counterparts in Europe to analyse the current situation in the region; discuss the current work of the Forum; and to identify where the Forum should be focusing its energies.The impact of the attempted coup in Turkey was a focus of the discussions, with Turkish participants expressing frustration over Europe's response to the coup, which was generally perceived to have been lacklustre. Wider regional tensions were also explored, with the poor state of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran felt to represent a particularly serious threat to regional stability unless addressed. The work of the Forum was endorsed, with all participants reiterating the need for greater dialogue, both between regional powers and between the region and Europe, especially in light of the unparalleled social, economic and political changes currently underway throughout the Gulf-MENA region.