Peace Day Peace Bell Ceremony 2026

Dear Professor Nejat Bora Sayan,
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests, esteemed friends,

It is a pleasure to join you as we mark the International Day of Peace. I warmly thank the Turkish-Japanese Foundation and its Chairman, Professor Sayan, for co-organizing this ceremony and for their continued commitment to friendship and peace.

Ankara is fortunate to be home to a Peace Bell. Here in Botanik Park, it offers a lasting reminder of an aspiration shared across countries, cultures and generations: to live together in peace. It is an honor to ring this Peace Bell with you today.

At the Peace Bell Ceremony in New York earlier this month, Secretary-General António Guterres reminded us that peace requires hard work and action.

That message is urgent. Wars are devastating lives, forcing families from their homes and denying children a safe future. Mistrust and division are making cooperation harder precisely when we need it most.

This year’s theme, “Investing in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day,” calls on all of us to act.

We invest in peace when we choose dialogue, protect human rights and build trust. We invest in peace through education, opportunity and institutions that serve everyone. And we invest in peace when we listen across differences and refuse to let prejudice divide us.

Peace is not just made at conference tables, but in classrooms, neighborhoods, and everywhere people meet with open minds and open hearts. Together, day by day, we can build a more just world, with compassion, equality and dignity for all.

The friendship between the peoples of Türkiye and Japan reminds us how solidarity can cross borders. Gatherings such as this give that solidarity a voice and a shared purpose.

As we ring the Peace Bell today, let us renew our commitment to turn its message into everyday action - in our communities, our institutions and our relations with one another.

May its sound carry our shared hope for peace, and our determination to help build it.

Thank you.