OTS foreign ministers meet in Ankara to finalise the draft Ankara Declaration; Northern Cyprus says it is “an inseparable part of the Turkic world”

On 29 October the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States met at the Presidential Complex in Ankara as part of the 13th summit, hosted by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Attending were Jeyhun Bayramov of Azerbaijan, Mukhtar Tileuberdi of Kazakhstan, Jeenbek Kulubaev of Kyrgyzstan, Bakhtiyor Saidov of Uzbekistan and Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu of Northern Cyprus; Turkmenistan was represented by its ambassador in Ankara, Mekan Ishanguliyev.

The ministers reviewed the summit agenda, the draft Ankara Declaration to be put to the Council of Heads of State, and draft decisions on expanding cooperation and strengthening the organisation's institutions. Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev reported on work done under Azerbaijan's chairmanship and said cooperation among member and observer states now covers more than 65 areas. The 2027 budgets of the Secretariat and the Turkic Academy were also discussed.

Speaking as an observer member, Northern Cyprus Foreign Minister Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu congratulated Türkiye on taking over the chairmanship and called his country “an inseparable part of the Turkic world”. He noted its institutional ties with TURKPA, TURKSOY, the Turkic Academy and the Union of Turkic Universities, and called for cooperation in education, trade, transport, tourism and youth.

The summit theme draws on İsmail Gaspıralı's motto: “The Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Action”. Türkiye formally takes over the chairmanship from Azerbaijan on 30 October.