It is also perhaps a demonstration of Obama’s very challenging efforts to establish an “equilibrium” between Shia and Sunni forces throughout the Middle East region, especially in the Gulf. Obama explicitly made such equilibrium a strategic aim in the region in his famous interview with The New Yorker’s David Remnick 14 months ago.

With a massive invasion by U.S. ground troops ruled out — for now — the debate in Washington over what to do about Islamic State militants has shifted into the realm of diplomacy and “soft power.”

In a move aimed at easing Western sanctions and its economic isolation, along with promoting higher education development and regional cooperation, Iran is continuing to establish more branch campuses of its universities across the Arab states.

The chairman of the country's leading think-tank, Jiro Hanyu from the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, believes that this negative trend is temporary, and underlined that they are trying to do everything in their power to increase mutual understanding between the Japanese and Muslim communities.

Neo-Ottomanism is closely associated with the strategic visions of the late President Turgut Özal and the AKP. It seeks to restore Turkey's imperial "strategic depth" in the territories formerly occupied by the Ottoman Empire through "soft power."

The conference that will focus on certain questions - such as "How can we establish a culture of understanding and peace between different religions and cultures?" - aims to promote Turkey academically as well as addressing and correcting wrong perceptions about Turkey in the world.