16 August 2013, Gabala, Azerbaijan

 

PRESS RELEASE

THIRD SUMMIT OF THE TURKIC COUNCIL

 

The Third Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Turkic Council), an international organization established by the Nakhchivan Agreement signed among Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey in 2009, was held on 15-16 August in Gabala, Azaerbaijan. The main theme of this year’s Summit was “transport and connectivity”. Within the scope of the Summit, the Council of Foreign Ministers convened on August 15 while the Council of Heads of States held its meeting, hosted by HE the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and attended by HE the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, HE the President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, and HE the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul, on August 16.      

During their meeting, Foreign Ministers signed a Protocol on close cooperation in various areas among the Foreign Ministries of the Member States. After the aforementioned meeting, Ministers released a joint statement regarding events that took place in Egypt the other day.   

At the Summit meeting that was attended by Transport Ministers of the Member States as well as other relevant Ministers, Heads of State expressed their satisfaction with the accelerated progress of the cooperation in various areas under the framework of the Turkic Council.

Fattah Heydarov, the Azerbaijani member of Turkic Council’s Council of Elders as well as heads of Turkic Council’s affiliated organizations, namely, Secretaries General of TURKPA and TURKSOY Ramil Hasanov and Duysen Kaseinov and President of the Turkic Academy Shakir Ibrayev gave accounts of the work accomplished by their respective institutions. They also attended the meeting of the Heads of State.

On the other hand, the meeting of the Foreign Ministers was attended by Turkmenistan’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Toyly Komekov while Turkmenistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Sapardurdy Toylyyev was present at the meeting of the Heads of State. Both of them delivered speeches.

Turkic Council Secretary General Halil Akinci presented to the Council of the Foreign Ministers and to the Council of the Heads of State his annual comprehensive report on the work accomplished by the Secretariat, which is responsible for the coordination of the Turkic Council, during its third year of operation.

The Summit is an institutionalized continuation of the Summits Process that took place between 1992 and 2010. Since its establishment, the Turkic Council has taken concrete steps to promote cooperation in the Turkic world. For the first time in history, different ministers responsible for different spheres of cooperation came together under the framework of the Turkic Council. In line with the summit themes, Economy Ministers gathered immediately before the Almaty Summit while Eduaction and Culture Ministers met immediately before the Bishkek Summit. Expert groups which were established in order to carry on the aforementioned cooperation processes on the technical level continue their work on the subject.

During the past year the Turkic Council Secretariat carried on its results-driven work and organized over twenty meetings in various cooperation areas. In this context, the Directive for the Establishment of the Turkic University Union and its Higher Education Area was adopted at the meeting held in Bishkek in May 2012. Thus the Turkic University Union, whose aims include expanding cooperation in the sphere of higher eductaion, encouraging student/scholar exchange, and utilizing comparative advantages of the universities, was established under the Turkic Council. The Union is comprised of fifteen founding universities from four member countries. Similarly, the Terminology Committee comprised of experts from member countries held its first meeting in November 2012 in Istanbul. The Committee discussed a number of issues related to developing common Turkic terminology including such projects as publishing various dictionaries and a Turkic toponymic atlas.  

Ministers and Heads of Government Agencies responsible for diaspora issues gathered twice in Baku and Ankara in the first half of 2013. Ministers approved the Joint Action Strategy drafted by the Contact Group. The First Forum of Turkic Diaspora Organizations was held in Baku on 21 June 2013 with the participation of more than 600 representatives from 50 countries. Cooperation among diasporas will contribute to defending common interests and promoting the image of member countries.

As for cooperation in the sphere of transportation which was the main subject of the Gabala Summit, Transport Ministers met in Baku last July for the first time following the meetings of the Working Groups and discussions between Baku and Aktau Port Administrations. A Cooperation Protocol among Transport Ministries was signed during the meeting. In addition, sister ports relations were established among Baku, Aktau, and Samsun Ports after signing of the relevant Memorandum of Understanding. Parties also agreed to establish a Coordination Council consisting of Deputy Ministers as an intermediary organ which will deal with potential problems. Transport Ministers agreed that encouraging multi-modal transportation through Caspian Sea within the East-West Corridor will serve common interests of Member States through expansion of mutual trade and realizing their transit potential.

Additionally, Heads of Customs Administrations of Member Countries met twice in Nakhchivan and Istanbul. The Working Group on Customs Cooperation is currently working on simplification of customs procedures via implementation of such practices as “Single Window” and “Authorized Economic Operator”. 

The aforementioned decisions as well as the outcomes of other meetings held throughout the past year were approved by the Presidents of the Member States at the Gabala Summit. Heads of State expressed their political will to further develop comprehensive cooperation among Member States. In this regard, the Declaration of the Third Summit of the Turkic Council (Almaty Summit) can be accessed at the Secretariat’s official website (www.turkkon.org). Reinforced and empowered by this stimulus, the Secretariat shall continue to carry out its functions. The Gabala Summit has marked the transfer of Turkic Council Chairmanship from Kyrgyzstan to Azerbaijan.                                                      

Within the scope of the Summit, Heads of State attended the concert celebrating TURKSOY’s 20th anniversary.