Türkiye took over the rotating chairmanship of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS, known in Turkish as TDT) from Azerbaijan on Friday as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened the bloc’s 13th leaders’ summit in Ankara, NTV and TRT Haber reported.
Speaking at the Presidential Complex under the summit theme "Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Action", Erdoğan thanked Azerbaijan for its work during its term and told fellow leaders there was no room for division or disagreement in the Turkic world’s "family photo", according to Anadolu Agency (AA), NTV and TRT Haber.
The leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan attended, along with Turkmenistan’s Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Northern Cyprus’s Tufan Erhürman, whose countries are observers, AA and İhlas News Agency (İHA) reported. Azerbaijan was represented by Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov, as President Ilham Aliyev did not travel to Ankara.
Update, 12:57: The OTS also changed its secretary-general at the Ankara summit: Kubanychbek Omuraliev, whose four-year term has ended, handed the post to Mirvahid Azimov, Anadolu Agency (AA) and İhlas News Agency (İHA) reported. In his address, Erdoğan thanked Omuraliev for his work and wished the new secretary-general success, AA reported. (Sources: AA via Foreks, İHA via Son Dakika.)
Turkmenistan, Northern Cyprus and new projects
Erdoğan said he hoped Turkmenistan would soon become a full member and that he expected the organisation’s contacts with Northern Cyprus to grow, AA, NTV and TRT Haber reported.
According to TRT Haber and Yeni Şafak, he called for a memorandum on cybersecurity and cyber cooperation to be signed as soon as possible, describing cyber security as being as vital as security on land, at sea and in the air. He said speeding up a joint satellite project remained a priority, proposed a common digital trade platform linking member markets, and asked member states to contribute to a "Great Turkic Language Model" covering the Oghuz, Kipchak and Karluk language groups.
He also described the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor, the trade route linking China and Central Asia to Europe through the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Türkiye, as a strategic route for future trade and said the Turkic world should become a trade, transport and energy hub, AA and TRT Haber reported.
Iran, Gaza and the South Caucasus
On regional issues, Erdoğan said the recently rising tension with Iran should be steered towards diplomacy rather than weapons. He called for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza and for reconstruction to begin quickly, and repeated Türkiye’s support for an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to TRT Haber and Yeni Şafak.
He said Türkiye supported Azerbaijan’s contacts with Armenia and would keep contributing to lasting peace in the South Caucasus, the same reports said.
Ankara Declaration still to come
The leaders are expected to adopt an "Ankara Declaration" and other decisions and documents at the end of the summit, NTV reported. The draft was prepared by foreign ministers on Thursday, as covered in our summit preview. No final text had been published by late morning.
According to NTV, Türkiye’s annual trade with the OTS full member states stands at about 17 billion US dollars. In 2025, Turkish exports to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan totalled 9.6 billion dollars, while imports from them reached 7.3 billion dollars.
The OTS, founded in 2009 as the Turkic Council, groups Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as full members.
Sources
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Türk dünyasının aile fotoğrafında ayrılığa yer yoktur (NTV)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Türk dünyasında ayrılığa, gayrılığa yer yok (TRT Haber)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Türk dünyasının aile fotoğrafında ayrılığa, gayrılığa, ihtilafa yer yoktur (AA)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’dan TDT 13. Zirvesi Devlet Başkanları Konseyi Toplantısı’nda önemli mesajlar (Yeni Şafak)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, TDT Zirvesi’ne katılan liderleri karşıladı (İHA via Son Dakika)
Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
