Turkey has successfully promoted its own multilateral format, the Organisation of Turkic States, which has gradually grown from a platform for dialogue into a full-fledged organisation promoting close cooperation in a wide variety of areas. Turkey has set quite ambitious goals for itself — turning it into a Turkic-speaking analogue of the EU. Turkey seeks to implement the concept of “Great Turan”, uniting the Turkic peoples around itself under the slogan “Many states — one Turkic nation.” A significant milestone was the adoption of the Concept of the Turkic World until 2024, which ensures the unity of the Turkic world in all areas: from the alphabet and conceptual apparatus to interaction in the political and security spheres, economic interaction, transport and customs, in the field of information and communication technologies, energy, tourism, health and environmental protection, and agricultural development. This concept pays special attention to the cultural unity of peoples; the organisation’s tasks will include promoting the idea of a common Turkic heritage shared by the greatest scientists, poets, thinkers and artists. It is planned to hold annual cultural events aimed at bringing these peoples closer together. As part of cooperation in the field of education between the Turkic states, an association of Turkic Universities Union (TURKUNIB) was created with the Orhun Process — an analogue of the Bologna Process in the Turkic world. More than 40 universities interact within this process, exchanging best practices and implementing academic mobility programmes.
In 2022 the “Turkic World” media platform began to function, uniting the news agencies of the Turkic states. This platform is a joint project of the Trend International Information Agency and the Turkish Albayrak media group. The media platform operates in Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen and Azerbaijani, and news is also published in Russian and English. The main goal is to cover the main events concerning the Turkic states.
The last summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, held in November 2023, outlined the priority areas, which were mentioned in the speeches of the heads of state of members and observers of this Organisation. The first directive is to study the historical past and archives, and identify common historical roots and traditions, focusing on the continuity of the historical past of the Turkic peoples, as well as the formation of a single value field with the help of modern arts, as well as traditional and new media. Another important priority is the standardisation and unification of economic criteria for the unhindered export of goods to the common market and increasing trade turnover, which at the end of 2023 exceeded $22 billion between members of the Organisation. The summit participants welcomed the initiative to create a Turkic World Economic Dictionary to develop academic integration in the field of economic science between the participating countries and observers. The event highlighted the role of the Turkic Investment Fund: the first meeting of the board of directors was subsequently held on May 18, 2024. The fund will become an important financial source for ensuring sustainable economic development and improving the welfare of the Turkic states. The fund was established within the framework of the emergency summit of the Organisation of Turkic States on March 16, 2023. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey are the founding countries. The main activities will cover areas such as renewable energy sources, infrastructure, tourism, IT, agriculture and other important areas. The Turkic Investment Fund plans to provide assistance in creating new jobs and diversifying the economy.
As a result of the tenth summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, 12 documents were signed, which continued the trend towards strengthening cultural cohesion and economic integration.
The motto “Turkic era!” and “Our Unity is Our Strength,” announced at the summit, reflect ambitious plans to realise a “Turkic world from the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China.” Turkey’s task to reach the level of a “supraregional power”, to strengthen its status as an influential and a leading player on the “global chessboard”, is quite feasible precisely by deepening the Turkic vector in Turkey’s foreign policy. All Turkish initiatives in Central Asia are perceived by these countries in a positive way, because the “idea of kinship”, the idea of spiritual and cultural closeness is successfully formed and implanted. Obviously, other players cannot boast of such a resource, which will increase Turkey’s chances to strengthen a foothold in this region.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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