February is a short month but it saw much diplomatic activity in our region. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer paid an official visit to neighbouring Bulgaria, while the prime ministers of Romania, Georgia, Bahrain and Iraq and the speakers of Parliament of Azerbaijan and Latvia all came to Turkey. Numerous contacts also took place at the ministerial level, both in Turkey and abroad. Meanwhile, we bade farewell to the ambassadors of South Korea, Germany and Bulgaria, and made the acquaintance of new ambassadors from Slovenia and Thailand.

DİPLOMAT this month presents a lengthy but highly readable interview with the ambassador to Ankara of a country that plays a major role in world affairs: the United Kingdom. Sir Peter Westmacott gave full and sincere answers to all of our questions, which covered a wide range of issues from the UK’s relations with the US, its stance on Iraq and the “conflict of civilisations” to the UK’s position within the EU, the Cyprus question and – a must for us – the relations between the UK and Turkey.

Our "Speaking Out" pages this month play host to a civil society organisation, the “East Conference” steered by Professor Mehmet Bekâroğlu. Unlinked to the official institutions of any country, this group stages meetings which bring together intellectuals from various countries with a view to questioning world politics - particularly the problems as well as the benefits of “globalisation”, and the reasons why the Middle East has become such a troubled region. In this way, a new non-governmental form of diplomacy is coming into being. Perhaps such direct interaction between the civil societies of different countries should itself be regarded as a democratic product of globalisation.

Further afield, our travel pages take the reader to Nepal. Some of our readers may have visited this mystical country in their youth, at a time when it was considered a very special destination. Who can forget the Kathmandu of the 1960s? The Nepali capital may not be as fashionable as it was then, but the country and its people are as fascinating as ever.

The artist whom we feature this month, Adnan Turani, is a true European. Turani was educated in Germany and has repeatedly visited France, Spain and Italy to meet other artists and study works of art. Today, he is one of Turkey’s greatest painters. His fame has spread beyond Turkey’s borders, and his abstract paintings are to be found not only in private collections but in a large number of museums and galleries.

Everybody will want to make the most of the lengthening days and precious Spring weather. For residents of Ankara, in particular, we recommend a weekend in Safranbolu. The town is just 240km away from the capital, and its typical, well-preserved houses and streets have earned it the status of a World Heritage site. Accommodation is correspondingly stylish and comfortable, making Safranbolu the ideal place to recuperate after the ordeal of the winter months.