The Third General Assembly of the Turkic University Union (Union) was hosted by the Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University (KTMU), the current Chairman-in-Office of the Union, on 19 April 2018 in Bishkek.
Representatives from 14 member universities of the Union from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, delegates of the Student Council and officials of the Turkic Council Secretariat attended the Assembly.
The Rector of the KTMU Prof. Sebahattin Balcı and Deputy Secretary General of the Turkic Council Dr. Ömer Kocaman moderated the discussions on the topics such as logo and website of the Union, the implementation of the Orkhun Exchange Program, criteria for the Union award and the Activity Report of the Union prepared by the Chairman-in-Office.
In the course of the meeting, the parties agreed to consider the prospective cooperation with other universities in the scope of the international collaboration of the Union. The sides suggested that such partnerships would enhance the capacity of the Orkhun Exchange Program.
Among the other important decisions taken at the meeting was the inclusion of the Department of Turkology to the pilot project of the Orkhun Exchange Program that started last year for the undergraduate students and academicians of Department of International Relations, Department of Political Science, Department of International Relations and Political Science.
The Activity Report included projects designed and carried out with the coordination of the KTMU during its chairmanship. It encompasses prominent endeavors such as the First Turkic University Union Sport Games, Tourism Guide of the Turkic World, the document briefing the relations among the member states over the last 25 years and the paper on the common citizenship education among the Turkic peoples.
In the course of the meeting, the Student Council reported on its activities as well.
The parties also reviewed the prospective actions of the Union in the upcoming period. Among other things, the central theme of the discussion was the transition of the chairmanship to the Khoja Akhmet Yassawi University of Kazakhstan.
The parties also unanimously consented to organize an international symposium dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birthday of renowned Turkic writer Chinghiz Aitmatov.
Towards the end of the session, the participants listened to the presentations of the candidate universities to the Union membership, after which the member universities decided on the selection of the applicants by using objective criteria and by means of vote.
Thus, Azerbaijan University of Languages, Kh. Dosmukhamedov Atyrau State University of Kazakhstan and Osh State University of Kyrgyzstan joined the Union and became its new members.
Project Director Zhyldyz Uzakova, Jeyhun Shahverdiyev, Özge Pan and Research Expert Dastan Almen were also present at the Assembly.
