CDF is a Türkiye-based platform exploring how culture and diplomacy can help societies talk across political, historical and social divides.
We see cultural diplomacy not as an alternative to political dialogue, but as another way into it. Art, heritage, memory and cultural expression can open conversations about conflict, identity, rights and belonging from perspectives that formal diplomacy may not always reach.
Our work connects peacebuilding, intercultural dialogue, social cohesion and the democratization of knowledge, creating spaces where different experiences and forms of expertise can inform how we understand shared challenges.
CDF moves between the conversation room and the cultural space.
Forums create space for debate. Smaller Encounters allow deeper exchange. Exhibitions bring ideas into public view. Cultural Visits use cities, museums, archives and heritage as places of learning and dialogue.
Different formats, different experiences, connected by a commitment to meaningful exchange.
The conversation should not disappear when an event ends.
Through CDF Notes, Briefs, articles and reflections, we capture ideas worth carrying forward and make them accessible beyond those who were present.
This is part of our commitment to democratizing knowledge: widening access to ideas while bringing local experience and underrepresented perspectives into larger conversations.
CDF is built around unlikely conversations.
We create encounters between people who may work on the same challenges but rarely meet in the same room, from diplomacy and public policy to civil society, academia, journalism, arts and culture, and a new generation of emerging voices.
It is often at these intersections that the most interesting conversations begin.
