Organization of Turkic States summit date announced
The summit of the Organization of Turkic States will be held on March 16 in Turkey. This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu during a joint press conference with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjártó.
“Due to the earthquake, the diplomatic forum in Antalya was postponed. However, the summit of the Organization of Turkic States will be held on March 16. We will be glad to see Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the summit. On March 29, Hungarian President Katalin Novak will visit Turkey,” Cavusoglu said.
The Organization of Turkic States as an intergovernmental organization was founded in 2009. The founding members are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Uzbekistan became a full member at the 7th summit, which was held in Baku in October 2019. At the 6th Summit of the Organization in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, in September 2018, Hungary received observer status. Turkmenistan joined the Organization as an observer member at the 8th Summit in November 2021, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in November 2022.
On November 11, 2022, the 9th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States was held in Uzbek Samarkand.
On February 26, after the deadly twin earthquakes that recently rocked Turkey, OTS Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev said in an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah: "The Turkic world has shown that it is united in the face of not only political and economic problems, but also humanitarian catastrophes."
In an interview conducted at the organization's headquarters in Istanbul, Omuraliev highlighted the critical role that the OTS played in responding to the disaster and mobilizing member states to assist and support the estimated more than 13.5 million people affected.
Omuraliev was among the officials who visited the earthquake zones and participated in the rescue work carried out by detachments sent by the Turkic countries.
In total, OTS countries sent 1,832 rescuers and medical personnel, including doctors, paramedics, nurses, psychologists and cynologists, as well as 53 rescue dogs. Thousands of tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered, including medicines and textiles.
Speaking about the upcoming meeting, Omuraliev said: "The response to the earthquakes in Turkey has shown that we can achieve a lot by working together, and this will certainly be discussed in March."
The Secretary-General sees the upcoming summit as an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties among Member States, as reflected in the collective response to the disaster.
He also stressed that the unity of the Turkic world is not just rhetoric, but reality. He stated that the upcoming March summit would further highlight this reality and demonstrate that "the Turkic world is strongly united."
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