Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS, known in Turkish as TDT) gather in Ankara on Friday for the bloc’s 13th summit, held at the Presidential Complex in Beştepe under the theme "Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Action", Demirören News Agency (DHA), Milli Gazete and Haberport reported.
The OTS groups Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as full members, with Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) as observers. Its secretariat is based in Istanbul.
Update, 08:55: US President Donald Trump phoned President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday evening, during the Republic Day dinner Erdoğan hosted for the leaders who have come to Ankara for the summit. The Presidential Communications Directorate announced the call, and Bloomberg HT and NTV reported it. According to the Directorate, Erdoğan passed on the other leaders’ greetings and told Trump that the 13th OTS summit in Ankara would take decisions to strengthen the organisation, which he called a centre of stability and trust in Central Asia with a population of more than 200 million. Trump wished the summit success. It was the second call between the two leaders in two days. On Friday morning an article by Erdoğan titled “Turkic World Century: From Solidarity to Integration” ran in leading media in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Hungary and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Sabah and Türkiye newspaper (citing İHA) reported. In the article he calls for closer rail, port, road and customs links along the Middle Corridor, wider use of the Turkic Investment Fund, the removal of trade barriers, and more cooperation on defence and against terrorism, cyber threats and disasters. Both reports said Türkiye will take over the rotating OTS chairmanship from Azerbaijan at the summit. (Sources: Bloomberg HT, NTV via Olay, Sabah, İHA via Türkiye Gazetesi.)
Foreign ministers prepare the summit documents
On Thursday the OTS Council of Foreign Ministers met in Ankara, opened by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, to prepare the leaders’ meeting, DHA and Haberport reported. The ministers reviewed a draft "Ankara Declaration" and other draft decisions to be put to the Council of Heads of State, aimed at deepening cooperation and strengthening the organisation’s institutional structure. They also took up the 2027 budgets of the OTS Secretariat and related bodies and documents on the Ali Shir Nava’i International Award.
Secretary-General Kubanychbek Omuraliev briefed the ministers on progress made during Azerbaijan’s term as chair, saying cooperation among member and observer states now covers more than 65 areas, according to DHA and Haberport. The ministers thanked Omuraliev, whose term is coming to an end.
Haberport listed the participants as the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and of the TRNC, with Turkmenistan represented by its ambassador in Ankara. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is not attending the leaders’ summit; see Aliyev to skip OTS summit in Ankara.
What is on the agenda
According to Milli Gazete, the leaders’ agenda includes trade, investment, transport, energy, digital transformation and cultural ties, with a focus on easing border crossings and customs procedures, cutting logistics costs and the Middle Corridor trade route linking Asia and Europe via the Caspian. Haberport and DHA said the final decisions on the draft documents will be taken during the summit.
The summit follows a day of bilateral meetings in the capital, including the signing of five Türkiye-Uzbekistan agreements; see Türkiye and Uzbekistan sign five agreements.
Sources
- TDT Dışişleri Bakanları Konseyi toplantısı Hakan Fidan’ın açılış konuşmasıyla başladı (DHA via Son Dakika)
- Türk devletleri Ankara’da 13. zirve gündemini şekillendirdi (Haberport)
- Türk dünyasının liderleri Ankara’da buluşuyor: TDT Zirvesi’nde gündem ekonomi ve işbirliği (Milli Gazete)
Photo: Ex13 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
