The Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Turkic Council was hosted by Erlan Idrissov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan that currently assumes the Chairmanship of the Turkic Council on 20 September 2016 in New York at the premises of the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United Nations.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of the Kyrgyz Republic Erlan Abdyldayev, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of the Republic of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, as well as the Secretary General of the Turkic Council Ambassador Ramil Hasanov took part in the meeting which was held in the framework of the United Nations 71st General Assembly.

At the breakfast meeting, the Parties primarily discussed the further measures to be taken to obtain the observer status for the Turkic Council at the UN General Assembly as well as at the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Following this, Secretary General Ambassador Hasanov gave detailed information to the Foreign Ministers about the enhancement of already existing relations with the UN and its specialized agencies such as UN World Tourism Organization, UN Development Programme and UN Office for South South Cooperation. Accordingly, he underlined that the Turkic Council takes all necessary actions to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the region and along its vicinity. Expressing that the Council closely follows the priority items on the UN agenda, he mentioned the international conference entitled the Role of Youth in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism: Holistic Approach from Education to De-radicalization that the Council will co-host with the UN Alliance of Civilizations on 20-21 October 2016 in Istanbul. He noted that the conference will welcome more than 200 young leaders and experts on the topic concerned from about 40 countries with high level participation. On this occasion, Ambassador Hasanov invited the Ministers to the said event as a guest of honour.

On the other hand, Ambassador Hasanov also informed the audience about the productive relations of the Turkic Council with the other international organizations such as Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He underlined that as an observer to the Economic Cooperation Organization, in line with its inclusive and cooperative approach, the Council will keep on improving its ties with the relevant international and regional organizations on the basis of mutual interests. In this context. the Foreign Ministers of the Member States exchanged views and put forward their valuable proposals on the required steps to be further taken in this direction.

Minister Mammadyarov, Minister Idrissov, Minister Abdyldayev and Minister Çavuşoğlu expressed their appreciation for the steps taken by the Secretariat with regard to the progress acheived for Turkic Council`s obtaining observer status at the UN General Assembly and the OIC as well as concerning the relations with the OSCE. Furthermore, they ensured the continuation of their support to the Secretariat for the abovementioned issues and particularly the materialization of the upcoming international conference on the role of youth in preventing violent extremism.

The Parties also discussed the issues pursuant to the affiliated organizations of the Council namely the International Turkic Academy, the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, and the Center of Nomadic Civilization.

The ongoing preparation process for the upcoming Summit of the Turkic Council at the level of Heads of States that is planned to be held on 18 November 2016 was also among the issues discussed at the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the Ministers expressed their appreciation to Minister Idrissov for hosting the meeting and on this occasion congratulated him for the election of Kazakhstan to the UN Security Council for 2017-2018 as a non permanent member. The Ministers also congratulated Kyrgyzstan for successfully hosting the 2nd World Nomadic Games on 3-8 September 2016 that was a true celebration of diversity, culture and inter-cultural dialogue.

The Project Directors Pelin Musabay, Yedil Myrzakhanov, Farid Damirli as well as the Head of Protocol Emre Yurdakul accompanied the Secretary General Hasanov at the meeting.