Turkic-speaking countries participating in a summit in Bishkek

In Bishkek today a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS or TURKKON) has been opened, anticipating the summit of the organization, which will be held tomorrow. The event is being attended by the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Ruslan Kazakpaev, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov. Also attending are the Secretary General of TurkPA Ramil Hasanov, Secretary General of TURKSOY Fırat Purtash, Secretary General of the CCTS Halil Akinci, member of the Council of Elders of Kyrgyzstan Ishenbai Abdurazakov, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Kyrgyzstan Ibrgim Zhunusov and Education Minister Kanat Sadykov.

In his opening speech, Ruslan Kazakpaev welcomed the participants and expressed his condolences to the Turkish people in connection with the recent terrorist attack. Yerzhan Kazykhanov also expressed his condolences to the people of Turkey and congratulated them on Eid-ul-Fitr. The Foreign Ministers noted that the upcoming summit of the member countries of the CCTS will provide a new impetus to the development of relations between the countries. After words of welcome, the foreign ministers continued the meeting behind closed doors.

It is assumed that the participants in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CCTS will sign the following documents after discussion: on the establishment of the Development Fund of Turkic states; on the creation of the Association of Universities of Turkic states; the draft program of cooperation between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the member of the Turkic Council; on the establishment of the Prize of Pride of the Turkic world; Agreement on Financial Rules of the CCTS; Agreement on the formation of the Turkic Academy of the CCTS; Agreement on establishing a Foundation of Turkic culture and heritage of the CCTS; the draft agenda of the Second Summit of the CCTS; the draft of the Bishkek Declaration.

This year's summit of the CCTS involves four countries: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Azerbaijan. The first three countries will be represented by their presidents, and Azerbaijan will delegate its Prime Minister to the meeting. The meeting will discuss the initiative of the Kyrgyz Republic to establish a fund of Turkic states, designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises, and the establishment of a University of Turkic-speaking Countries.

Some of the participants in the summit have already arrived in Kyrgyzstan. This morning Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Bishkek on a state visit, who, as VK previously reported, held a series of meetings with the leadership of Kyrgyzstan.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in the capital of Kyrgyzstan at 15:00 local time. In addition to participation in the summit, he intends to hold a series of meetings with senior officials of the republic. In particular, the Turkish leader is going to meet with President Almazbek Atambayev, Speaker Asylbek Jeenbekov and Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov. The talks will focus on bilateral cooperation in the fields of politics, economy and culture.

In addition, the summit will be attended by a delegation headed by the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries (TurkPA) Ramil Hasanov. The TurkPA Secretary General will present to the presidents a report on the activities of the Assembly in the past year. After that, Ramil Hasanov will hold bilateral meetings with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Ruslan Kazakpaev, Secretary General of the CCTS Khalil Akynchy and Secretary General of TURKSOY Dusen Kaseinov. The Secretary General of TurkPA is accompanied by his deputy Baktemir Ziyaddin and the Secretary for International Cooperation and Protocol, Anar Rahimov.

Looking back, the CCTS was established in 2009 on the initiative of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The organization includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. Two other Turkic states - Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan - are not members. The first summit was held in Almaty in October 2011.