Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) closed their 13th summit in Ankara on Friday by adopting a 163-article Ankara Declaration and agreeing that the next regular summit will be held in Uzbekistan in 2027, Anadolu Agency (AA) and İhlas News Agency (İHA) reported.
Kyrgyzstan will host an informal summit of the bloc in the same year, both agencies said. Türkiye, which took over the rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan at the start of the meeting, will lead the organisation until the Uzbekistan summit, as reported in our coverage of the summit’s opening.
The OTS brings together Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as full members, with Turkmenistan, Hungary and Northern Cyprus as observers. According to İHA, the declaration was signed in Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish and Uzbek.
Airport lanes and a defence industry college
Among the practical steps, member states will look at setting up voluntary dedicated passenger lanes for citizens of OTS countries at international airports, AA and İHA reported. The declaration also says the creation of an OTS Defence Industry College hosted by Türkiye will be studied, and calls for faster work on an OTS Cyber Security Council, the two agencies said.
According to İHA and a separate report by the Son Dakika news site, the text backs the Middle Corridor, the trade route linking Central Asia to Europe across the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Türkiye, along with the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the Zangezur Corridor. The same reports said the bloc’s 12U cubesat, TDT-SAT, has been completed, and that members will seek observer status for the OTS at the UN General Assembly and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
On Cyprus, the declaration supports the equal rights of Turkish Cypriots and calls for a negotiated settlement, İHA and Son Dakika reported. It also endorses the Turkic Academy’s work on a common Turkic alphabet.
Tokayev floats observer role for Russia
During the summit, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed that Russia be considered for the OTS+ cooperation format or for observer status in the organisation, the Kazakh news agency Kazakhstan Today and The Astana Times reported. İHA also reported his call for steps towards Russian observer membership.
Tokayev pointed to Russia’s long ties with the Turkic world and the many Turkic peoples living there, and repeated Kazakhstan’s position that the OTS should not become a military alliance, according to Kazakhstan Today and The Astana Times. The reports did not indicate any response from other member states, and none of the reports on the declaration mentioned Russia.
Azerbaijan was represented in Ankara by Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov. The draft declaration was prepared by foreign ministers on Thursday, as covered in our summit preview.
Sources
- Türk Devletleri Teşkilatı 13. Zirvesi Ankara Bildirisi yayımlandı (AA via TGRT Haber)
- Türk dünyasından Ankara’da stratejik birlik mesajı: Savunma, güvenlik ve ekonomide yeni dönem (İHA via Son Dakika)
- Türk Devletleri Teşkilatı’ndan ortak bildiri: Ticaret hızlandırılacak (Son Dakika)
- Tokayev proposes Russia join OTS+ format or become observer in Turkic bloc (Kazakhstan Today)
- Tokayev Highlights Trade Growth, Backs Stronger Cooperation Among Turkic States (The Astana Times)
- Tokayev, Rusya’nın Türk Devletleri Teşkilatı’na gözlemci olması için çağrı yaptı (İHA via Son Dakika)
Photo: Tolga Bakı / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
