Turkic-Speaking Countries Cooperation Council to be held in Astana

Tomorrow the 5th summit of The Turkic-Speaking Countries Cooperation Council will be held in Astana, at which the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Turkey will arrive to discuss trade-economic, educational and spiritual cooperation.

Ahead of the summit, Azer Hasret, a member of the board of the Press Council of Azerbaijan, stated: “Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries are very close and important to us. Of course, Russia is our largest neighbor, where many Turkic-speaking peoples live, and we also keep close contact with them. Azerbaijan cannot exist outside the Turkish community. And of course, when our heads of states meet, we expect a lot of things. A common television channel for the Turkic-speaking countries is being created. Although now in Turkey [the public TV-channel where programs and shows for Turkic-speaking countries are broadcast] TRT AVAZ exists, which tries to cover in particular the issues that are going to be addressed by the newly created television channel. This summit will bring together our peoples; and we are very pleased that Turkmenistan is also getting somehow close to this union of the Turkic states.”

Elchin Mirzabayli, chief editor of ‘Halq Dzhephesi’, says that economic cooperation and security will mainly be discussed at the summit: “It is very important for Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan, and Russia as well. Economic cooperation is very important for all these countries due to the drop in oil prices. And the issue of security is also very important. Terrorist attacks take place in Turkey every day. But this is a problem not only for Turkey.”

It should be noted that the Turkic-speaking Countries Cooperation Council also has the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) where a big role is played by Russian regions – Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, the North Caucasus republics. At the recent forum of TURKSOY in Istanbul, representatives of Russia addressed participants of the forum to invest in the Russian economy and extend economic contacts between the countries of the Turkic world.

Aly Totorkulov, Chairman of the Russian Congress of Peoples of the Caucasus, says that Russia has a Turkic population of 15 million people. “You all know the saying, if you rub any Russian, a Tatar pops out. We speak Russian, which also consists of Turkic words. We as Turks understand how many Turkuc words are in Russian when we speak Russian. Russia must be seen as one of the Turkic countries. Neither Kazakhstan nor Azerbaijan has as many Turks as Russia. Here we have 10 autonomous republics, where the titular peoples are Turkic peoples. Russia is the historical birthplace of the Turks. If we cooperate politically and culturally, and economically, it would be a huge force, which would be accepted all over the world.”