The meeting was hosted by the Minister of Social Development of Kazakhstan Darkhan Kaletayev, and was attended by the Minister of Youth and Sports of Turkey Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoğlu, Director of State Agency for Youth Affairs, Physical Culture and Sports of Kyrgyzstan Kanat Amankulov, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Ismayil Ismayilov, Ambassadors of the Member States and Hungary based in Astana, as well as a large number of senior bureaucrats from the Member States. The meeting was moderated by the Secretary General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev.
Ministers in charge of Youth and Sports of the Turkic Council were received by the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan, Gulshara Abdykalikova, at the Presidential Residence “Akorda”.
In his opening speech during the 3rd Meeting of the Ministers in charge of Youth and Sports Secretary, General Baghdad Amreyev provided an overview of the projects and activities undertaken by the Turkic Council on youth and sports. Reminding that the 6. Summit of the Turkic Council held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, on 3 September 2018 was dedicated to the theme of Youth and Sports, Secretary General Amreyev underlined the messages of the Presidents of the Turkic Council in their Summit speeches urging to strengthen ties among the youth of the Member States and raising generations having awareness on our common historical and cultural background.
Deputy Secretary General of the Turkic Council Ömer Kocaman briefed the Ministers on the tangible outcomes of the youth and sports cooperation that started in 2015. He also reported the Ministers about the operationalization of the Turkic Council Youth Platform as well as about the results of the First Turkic Council Young Leaders Forum held on 25-29 November 2018 in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.
Ministers underscored in their speeches the importance of policies developed on youth and sports considering the educational, cultural and economic values that youth carries. They emphasized that the ongoing cooperation on youth under the Turkic Council has proved to be a valuable mechanism to enhance ties among the Turkic speaking youth and expand their knowledge about their commonalities as well as prevent them from being affected by radical ideologies.
Ministers highly valued the establishment of the Youth Platform under the Turkic Council as a successful initiative to bring together the Turkic speaking youth under one roof and expressed their full support to its activities. They agreed to organize its First General Assembly in Azerbaijan in 2019.
Upon the instructions of the Presidents at the 6. Summit of the Turkic Council in Cholpon-Ata to organize Young Leaders Forums on a regular basis, and based on the successful implementation of the First Turkic Council Young Leaders Forum in Nakhchivan, Parties agreed to organize the Second Turkic Council Young Leaders Forum in Turkistan, Kazakhstan in spring 2019.
Parties decided to organize the Fourth International Youth Camp in Zerendy, Kazakhstan in summer 2019 and Third International Youth Festival in Turkey with the participation of youth from the Member States as well as from other brotherly countries. Ministers emphasized the importance of participation of young people at the camps from member states` diasporas too.
Highlighting sport as another significant area for empowering young people and bringing them in a friendly and peaceful environment and appreciating the successful implementation of the First Turkic University Sports Games (Turkic Universiade) held in Baku in April 2018, Ministers agreed to stage the Second Turkic University Sports Games in Kazakhstan in 2020.
Parties discussed the organization of the Fourth World Nomad Games (WNG) to be staged in Turkey in 2020 upon the decision taken at the 6. Summit of the Turkic Council in Cholpon-Ata. Minister Kasapoğlu provided information on the ongoing preparations for the organization.
Ministers also decided to organize the Fourth Meeting of Ministers in charge of Youth and Sports of the Turkic Council in Kyrgyzstan in 2019.
In his speech, the Ambassador of Hungary to Astana András Baranyi highlighted the emphasis his country places to its relations with the Turkic Council and expressed their readiness to take part in the youth and sports activities organized by the Turkic Council.
Emphasizing the decision of the President Nursultan Nazarbayev to declare 2019 as the “Year of Youth”, Minister Kaletayev expressed his expectation from his counterparts and the Secretariat of the Turkic Council to support the activities to be organized in Kazakhstan on the occasion of the declaration of 2019 as the year of youth.
Deputy Secretary General Ömer Kocaman, Project Directors Ali Çiviler and Assan Mazhitov accompanied the Secretary General during his visit to Astana.
