30.10.2026 20:10
The 13th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), held in Ankara under the theme “Turkish Century: Unity in Language, Thought, and Work,” hosted historic decisions. With the 163-article Ankara Declaration adopted at the critical meeting hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkic world carried cooperation in many strategic areas—from the defense industry to energy, and from transport to digital integration—to a new dimension.
The 13th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States, which aims to develop political, economic and cultural cooperation in the Turkic world, was held at the Beştepe Nation Exhibition Hall. The summit, hosted by President Erdoğan, was attended by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and President of the TRNC Tufan Erhürman. Azerbaijan was represented by Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
Before the summit, the leaders gathered for a family photo, while the welcoming ceremony at Beştepe featured flags and soldiers representing the 16 Turkic states in history, as well as soldiers in Janissary uniforms. Following the family photo, the leaders signed the special board prepared for the summit.
The Ankara Declaration, consisting of 163 articles, was adopted and signed after the meeting and the leaders' addresses. The declaration highlighted the goals of increasing the Turkic world's capacity for joint action, making strategic cooperation permanent and strengthening coordination on international platforms.
TÜRKİYE ASSUMES THE OTS TERM PRESIDENCY
One of the prominent outcomes of the summit was the transfer of the Organization of Turkic States Term Presidency from Azerbaijan to Türkiye. Türkiye will hold the organization's term presidency until the next summit.
In the Ankara Declaration, Azerbaijan was thanked for its successful term presidency, and Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev, whose term has ended, was also thanked for his contributions. Wishes of success were conveyed to Ambassador Mirvokhid Azimov as the new Secretary General.
The schedule for the organization's upcoming meetings was also determined. Accordingly, the 14th OTS Summit will be held in Uzbekistan in 2027, and the informal summit will be held in Kyrgyzstan in the same year. At Uzbekistan's proposal, 2027 was declared 'Nature Conservation Year' across the OTS.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AND BROTHERHOOD TREATY ON THE AGENDA
The Ankara Declaration also included goals aimed at strengthening the institutional and legal basis of relations among the Turkic states.
The progress recorded in the draft 'Agreement on Strategic Partnership, Eternal Friendship and Brotherhood among the Turkic States', intended to strengthen unity among member countries, was welcomed.
Furthermore, the completion of the OTS 2027-2031 Strategy as the next phase of the Turkic World Vision 2040 was encouraged. A call was made for member countries to support each other in candidacies in international organizations, to increase coordination in joint decisions and initiatives and to maintain contacts among foreign ministers.
Developments toward the establishment of a Group of Turkic States at UNESCO were also among the topics welcomed in the declaration.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY COLLEGE AND NEW SECURITY COUNCILS
One of the important agenda items of the summit was cooperation in the field of defense and security.
It was decided to explore the possibility of establishing an 'OTS Defense Industry College' hosted by Türkiye. This initiative aims to increase knowledge and technology sharing among member countries in the defense industry, train qualified personnel and develop technical expertise.
In addition, the signing of the agreement on the establishment of a Council for Combating Crime within the organization was encouraged. A call was made to sign the memorandum of understanding in the field of cybersecurity and to accelerate consultations toward the establishment of the OTS Cybersecurity Council.
The determination to jointly combat terrorism, extremism, separatism, organized crime, drug and arms trafficking and cybercrime was also reaffirmed in the declaration.
SUPPORT FOR THE MIDDLE CORRIDOR, ZANGEZUR AND RAILWAY PROJECTS
In order to develop economic and commercial cooperation, transport corridors were also among the important topics of the summit.
The Ankara Declaration highlighted the goals of developing the East-West Middle Corridor via the Caspian, integrating the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line at full capacity and increasing the Zangezur Corridor's contribution to regional connectivity.
Attention was also drawn to the strategic importance of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway and Trans-Afghan Railway projects for regional trade and transport. The preparation of an OTS Transport Corridors Strategy covering these projects was encouraged.
It was also proposed to create special passenger lanes on a voluntary basis at international airports to facilitate travel for citizens of member countries.
In the field of energy, emphasis was placed on the strategic importance of projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline, the Southern Gas Corridor and the Caspian-Black Sea-Europe Green Energy Corridor. It was decided to deepen cooperation on energy security, critical minerals, energy efficiency and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
NEW STEP FOR TDT-SAT, THE COMMON SATELLITE OF THE TURKIC WORLD
Cooperation in the fields of technology, space and digitalization also found wide coverage in the Ankara Declaration.
It was decided to accelerate the legal and technical processes for sending the 12U TDT-SAT cube satellite, whose production was completed under the OTS umbrella, into space. The development of joint capacity in space technologies and increased cooperation among the space agencies of member countries were also supported.
The development of the "Digital Turkic World Concept" and the completion of processes for the mutual recognition of electronic digital signatures were encouraged for the purpose of integrating digital public services.
The role of TEKNOFEST in bringing together Turkic youth was also appreciated. Artificial intelligence governance and the protection of intellectual property rights were also listed among areas of joint work.
EMPHASIS ON THE 34-LETTER COMMON TURKIC ALPHABET
Under the heading of cultural cooperation, the goal of popularizing the 34-letter Common Turkic Alphabet came to the fore.
While efforts of the Turkic Academy to publish works on the basis of the common alphabet were supported, the importance of transmitting the common cultural heritage of the Turkic world to future generations was emphasized.
The declaration also supported declaring Ankara and Tashkent as the Turkic World Tourism Capital. The Common Museum Card project and the "Tabarruk Ziyorat" tourism routes were also included within the scope of cultural and tourism cooperation.
In the field of sports, consultations on considering football players who are citizens of Turkic states and play in the leagues of member countries under the status of "non-foreign player" and on organizing a Turkic Cup at the national team level were recorded.
INSTITUTIONAL STEP FOR THE OTS FAMILY AND WOMEN'S COUNCIL
Family and women's policies also became one of the joint agenda items at the summit.
The 1st High Honor Board Meeting of the Family and Women's Council, hosted by Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was welcomed.
In the Ankara Declaration, it was stated that cooperation among member countries should be increased in strengthening the family institution, supporting women, and transmitting traditional cultural values to younger generations.
Encouraging negotiations toward the establishment of the High Honor Council, which is envisaged to consist of the spouses of heads of state and representatives to be designated by member countries, was also among the items decided. It was supported that the Council's subsequent meetings continue within the scope of future OTS summits.
JOINT MESSAGE FOR GAZA, CYPRUS AND SYRIA
The Ankara Declaration also included assessments of regional and international developments.
A joint will was demonstrated to end the severe humanitarian situation in Gaza, ensure security and stability, deliver humanitarian aid, and rebuild the region. It was emphasized that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be found and that the two-state solution must be implemented in line with United Nations resolutions.
On the Cyprus issue, the call for a negotiated, mutually acceptable and sustainable solution based on the existing realities on the island was reiterated. Support was given to efforts to guarantee the inherent equal rights of the Turkish Cypriot people, described as an inseparable part of the Turkic world.
Support for Syria's territorial integrity and unity, security, stability, and reconstruction was also reiterated in the declaration. It was decided to continue joint efforts to contribute to peace, stability and sustainable development in Afghanistan.
BURHANETTİN DURAN: HISTORICAL TIES AND GEOPOLITICAL SOLIDARITY ARE STRENGTHENING
Burhanettin Duran, Head of Communications of the Presidency, also made an assessment on his social media account after the completion of the summit.
Duran drew attention to the importance of the Ankara Summit in terms of the Turkic world's common past, bonds of brotherhood and vision for the future, and stated that important decisions were taken at the summit, the Ankara Declaration was adopted, and bilateral meetings were held among the leaders.
Describing the summit as a strategic meeting where historical ties and geopolitical solidarity were strengthened, Duran used the following statements:
"This strategic meeting, which takes our historical ties and geopolitical solidarity to a higher level, has become one of the most concrete marks of our brotherhood law that will last from eternity to eternity and of our will to build our common future together. "
In his post, Duran stated that the humanitarian tragedies in oppressed geographies, especially Gaza, were also addressed at the summit. Duran, conveying that President Erdoğan emphasized that Turkic states should assume more responsibility on this issue, drew attention to the importance of joint will for the delivery of humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.
A NEW ERA AFTER THE ANKARA SUMMIT
The 13th Summit held in Ankara was completed with decisions that expanded the Organization of Turkic States' cooperation agenda beyond political coordination to defense, security, energy, transport, digitalization, culture and social policies.
With the 163-item Ankara Declaration, common goals were set out, and Türkiye's assumption of the term presidency is important in terms of continuing the institutional work of the upcoming period under Ankara's coordination.
Until the 14th Summit to be held in Uzbekistan in 2027, the implementation processes of the decisions taken and the progress to be recorded in joint projects will constitute the main items of the organization's agenda for the next period.
.Apply the following rules to the text I provided.
- Do not break the existing HTML structure.
- Translate the text into English.
- Also translate the values of the title and alt attributes in the img tag.
- Return only the translated text in the output.
- Do not add anything other than the translated text to the response.