ANKARA

The secretary general of the Organization of Turkic States said the inter-governmental association is ready to establish partnership relations with all countries and described its summit held last month in Istanbul as an “historical event.”

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Baghdad Amreyev said the eighth summit of leaders of the Organization of Turkic States attracted the attention not only of Turkic countries but also of all countries interacting with the Turkic world in one way or another.

“We continue to receive feedback not only from the states of our region but also from countries such as the US, China, India and the Arab countries, which demonstrates the international significance of this event,” Amreyev said.

Amreyev noted that the international community followed the forum closely and the reaction was “lively but not hostile.”

The historic nature of the summit was also demonstrated by the decisions taken such as the changing of the body’s name to the Organization of Turkic States and the establishment of the Turkic Investment Fund, the first financial institution within the Turkic world, as well as the adoption of the final Istanbul Declaration and a “Vision Document” for the next two decades, he said.

Amreyev highlighted that the renaming has given the organization a new and special status, besides increasing its authority and role in the international arena.

“Many political analysts saw the renaming of the Organization of Turkic States as a ‘new geopolitical reality’ in the Eurasian space,” he said.

The name of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council) has been changed to the Organization of Turkic States, according to a joint declaration of the council's 8th summit.

The declaration was issued following a summit held on Nov. 12 on Democracy and Freedoms Island in the Sea of Marmara under the theme “Green Technologies and Smart Cities in the Digital Age.”

Platform expresses common interests of Turkic states

Amreyev also welcomed Turkmenistan's accession to the group as an observer country.

“All sovereign and independent Turkic states in the world -- Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Hungary, which also considers itself part of the Turkic world -- are united under the common flag of the Organization of Turkic States,” he said.

Underlining that member states to the organization are “fraternal nations,” Amreyev said they are united not only by a common ethnic identity, language and culture as well as spiritual values and traditions, but also by history, geography, economy and information space.

“Therefore, the creation of a universal platform expressing the common interests of the Turkic states is a very logical step,” Amreyev noted.

He also stressed the importance of uniting Turkic countries in the wake of contemporary challenges like global climate warming, pandemics, terrorism and extremism to maintain peace and stability across the world.

Amreyev also underlined that the creation of a common Turkic information space is one of the key conditions for the development of the body.

He reminded that during the third meeting of the Ministers and High Officials in charge of Information and Media of the Turkic Council that was held in Baku in April this year, the parties approved the Action Plan 2021-2022 and agreed on the establishment of a Media Coordination Committee.

“The establishment of a single ‘International Turkic News Channel’ and strengthening of cooperation between news agencies and national TV channels are also under active consideration,” according to Amreyev.

Constructive relations with outside world

Underlining that the organization was established 12 years ago, Amreyev said that during this period, there have been no problems with the outside world and no complaints about its activities.

On the contrary, there is a great interest in the organization as 15 states, from Europe to Asia and all the way to Latin America, have expressed their intention to become observers, he said.

“All this shows that we are on the right track, we have earned a good international reputation and we have been able to build constructive relations with the outside world,” Amreyev stressed.

He said that only those countries which have constitutionally and nationally one of the Turkic languages as a state language or an official language in its entire territory can get observer status in the organization, but there are more flexible conditions of acceptance for partner status.

“The Organization of Turkic States is ready to establish partnership relations with all countries of the world in the presence of common interests and is open to constructive dialogue and mutually beneficial relations with all those who are ready to cooperate with us,” Amreyev noted.

The Organization of Turkic States was formed in 2009 to promote cooperation among Turkic-speaking states. It consists of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan as member countries and Hungary and Turkmenistan as observer states.