Turkey Promotes Itself as a Climate Champion. Not Everyone Agrees.

Critics say some of the country's environmental policies run counter to the image it is offering as host of a United Nations climate summit.

Turkey's global ambitions are written all over the walls of the sprawling conference center in Antalya, the Mediterranean resort city where it is host to the United Nations climate summit that opened on Monday.

"Turkey, where dialogue becomes action," read giant signs throughout the venue.

"The Future of the World is in Turkey!" read others.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long sought to position Turkey as a rising economic and military power that can mediate conflicts and play a muscular role in international affairs. Welcoming the tens of thousands of officials, ecologists, activists and others attending the U.N. summit, known as COP31, gives the country an opportunity to extend its diplomatic efforts into the critical realm of climate diplomacy, experts said.

But Turkey's efforts to portray itself as a climate champion run counter to some of its policies, critics said, and to its suppression of environmental activism. They say the country lacks a clear timeline for phasing out coal, continues to import large amounts of plastic waste from Europe and is heavy-handed in its treatment of residents who oppose mining projects.

The climate summit comes months after Turkey hosted its fellow members of the NATO military alliance in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where it showcased its value as a defense partner in an unstable region and the bonhomie between Mr. Erdogan and President Trump.

Now, Turkey seeks to cast itself as a key player in international climate talks, too.

"Turkey wants to show itself as a global power in many different places, including for peace, for climate, for trade," said Umit Sahin, who heads the climate change program at Istanbul Policy Center, a research institute.

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