Leaders of 4 Turkic-speaking countries assembled in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Thursday to talk about attempts to expand economical cooperation through transportation and energy projects.
“Especially in the fields of energy and transportation, there may be no working agreement in Eurasia without involvement of the Turkic states,” told Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu being in Bishkek for a pre-summit assembling of ministers on Wednesday. “When the 4 countries combine their forces, this will both pave the way for big projects that will contribute to welfare and peace to Eurasia and lead other countries [to collaborate],” he told.
Besides Turkey and host country Kyrgyzstan, leaders of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan attended to the Thursday summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS). Azerbaijan was represented by its prime minister, rather than President İlham Aliyev, while Turkish President Abdullah Gül had to come back from Bishkek earlier than planned due to the recurrence of an ear problem which was stimulated by plane travel.
“The CCTS, joining our countries, which share common history, civilisation, language, religion and backgrounds, will be an significant and positive contribution towards the developing of cooperation in Eurasia as it executes the nature of complementing already set-up cooperation mechanisms in the region,” Davutoğlu told on his speech on Wednesday at the meeting of the foreign ministers of member nations.
Marking the importance of the CCTS for Turkic-speaking countries, Davutoğlu also told that the CCTS will be an asset for the solidarity and unity inside the framework of strategical importance that Turkey attributes to the bilateral and multilateral cooperation with its brother countries following their independency from the Soviet Union.
“We’ll be able to react to the expectations of brother countries only if we fortify and intensify our cooperation available within the dynamic and ever-growing CCTS in each sphere by demonstrating maximum effort and willingness,” told Davutoğlu.
The CCTS is an international organization established in Azerbaijan’s province of Nakhichevan in 2009 upon the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev put forward in 2006. The council comprises of 4 Turkic countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Two other Turkic states, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are not presently official members of the council due to their neutral stance, though they’re probably to join the council in the future.
The first meeting of the CCTS was carried over Oct. 20-21, in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, in line with the 20th day of remembrance of the independence of the Caucasus and the Central Asian Turkic republics.
Today’s summit of the Turkic speaking states’ leaders in Bishkek is the second meeting to bring together senior officials of all of these countries. Presidents of Turkey, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are playing a leading role in the summit. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade also participated.
