The festival aims to ensure the effective cooperation of the members of the Turkic Council in the field of youth, to share experience on youth policies, to provide cultural cohesion among Turkic-speaking countries and to promote the common values of the Turkic Council countries.
Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev made the opening speech at the ceremony, welcomed the guests and emphasized the importance of youth policies for the Turkic Council by putting a special emphasis on the Youth Platform established under the roof of the Turkic Council. Secretary General Amreyev also stated that, in order to protect the youth from one of the major problems of our times, which is extremism, Turkic Council will continue to support and carry out projects aimed at empowerment of young people.
Bilal Erdogan, President of the World Ethnospor Confederation, said in his speech that in order to unleash the real potential of the cooperation in the Turkic World, it is necessary to increase the contact of the young people of the Turkic world with one another. Erdoğan also referred to the World Nomad Games organized with the institutional support of the Turkic Council, which will strengthen the authenticity of the Turkic states and will be instrumental in introducing the common culture to the world.
Deputy Director General of the Youth Services of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Turkey, Serdar Ersavcı, expressed the satisfaction for the significant progress made in a short period of time, in the field of youth cooperation among the member states within the framework of the Turkic Council. Taha Ayhan, President of the Youth Forum of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (ICYF), stated that they will partner with the Turkic Council in various activities in the coming period, in particular to carry out joint youth camps.
Following the opening speeches, a Panel on “Common History, Common Culture” was organized with the participation of R. Ambassador Halil Akıncı, the First Secretary General of the Turkic Council and Prof. Dr. Seyfettin Erşahin from Ankara University as speakers. The Panel was moderated by Dr. Ömer Kocaman, Deputy Secretary General of the Turkic Council.
The festival will continue until December 6, with the program including workshops on youth empowerment projects and voluntarism, sessions devoted to the presentation of National Delegations on their national policies and their activities in the field of youth, visits to youth centers, and visits to the historical and cultural sites of Istanbul.
