Khoja Ahmet Yassawi Kazakh-Turkish International University 

International Festival of Youth and Students of the Turkic World 

Press Release

Mr. Abzal Saparbekuly, Deputy Secretary General of the Turkic Council, attended the International Festival of Youth and Students of the Turkic World organized in the city of Turkistan, Kazakhstan on 20-30 April 2015 by Khoja Ahmet Yassawi Kazakh-Turkish International University, a member of the Turkic Council Turkic University Union.

Mr. Saparbekuly provided information on the main elements of the cooperation recently launched in the field of Youth and Sports under the umbrella of the Turkic Council. Based on the decisions taken at the 1st meeting of the Cooperation in the field of Youth and Sports of the Turkic Council held on 13 February 2015 in Istanbul, he informed the participants that the “1st meeting of the Ministers of Youth and Sports” of the Turkic Council as well as the “1st Turkic Council University Sports Games” would be hosted by Turkey before the 5th Summit of the Turkic Council to be held in September 2015 in Kazakhstan. He stated that Turkey would host the Turkic Council “1st Turkic World Youth Camp” in August 2015 in Trabzon and Samsun and that Azerbaijan would host the Turkic Council “Youth Festival” on March 2016 in Baku. Mr. Saparbekuly further noted that based on the practice implemented in the European Union and Council of Europe, a “Youth Council” formed by the representatives of the Youth NGO’s of the Member States would regularly convene before the meetings of the Ministers of Youth and Sports of the Turkic Council and inform the ministerial meeting of their expectations and problems.

In the framework of the festival program where youth from 16 countries was participated, panel sessions on common history, language and culture of the Turkic peoples were held and participants visited the historical sites of the city of Turkistan that occupies a distinct place in the Turkic history.