MOSCOW
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday suggested granting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the Highest Order of the Turkic World.
Speaking at a summit of the leaders of the Organization of Turkic States in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Tokayev praised Türkiye’s chairmanship in the grouping last year, stressing that Erdogan personally made a significant contribution to increase the organization’s authority and strengthen its influence.
“I am sure that fraternal Türkiye, which will celebrate the centenary of the proclamation of the Republic next year, will continue to contribute to strengthening our cooperation. In this regard, I would like to propose to present Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the Highest Order of the Turkic World,” Tokayev said.
According to him, the proposal found “unanimous support” among other leaders.
Tokayev said current geopolitical and economic contradictions have a negative impact on economies, and transport and logistic systems of Eurasia, and urged solidarity to counter challenges and threats.
The Kazakh president also pledged commitment to the principle of territorial integrity of all states and respect to the UN Charter.
“This is a necessary principle that fully corresponds to the basic interests of our country. Therefore, we will give priority to this principle,” he said.
Tokayev stressed the necessity to promote the Organization of Turkic States in the media to draw the attention of the world community to the Turkic civilization and supported the idea of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev about strengthening transport ties, pointing out that the Turkic states connect West and East, North and South.
“In the current transition period, it is very important to increase the potential of transport and transit communications and maximize the use of their capabilities,” he said.
According to Tokayev, Kazakhstan spent $35 billion over the last 15 years for developing logistics and plans to attract $20 billion of investment till 2025 for further elaboration of transport arteries.
He called the Transcaspian route, running through the territories of three fraternal states – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Türkiye – “a striking example” of successful cooperation in transport.
Another important area is cooperation in the IT sector, Tokayev said, and offered to establish for this purpose the center of digitalization of the Organization of Turkic States and a venture fund of the Turkic states to attract investments in important IT startups.
He also said climate, science and education are “important issues” of the organization’s agenda, moving forward an idea of forming “a unified chain of higher educational institutions.”
“I propose to consider the establishment in 2023 of a unified network of universities of Turkic countries, which will allow our students to study Turkic languages and get acquainted with the history and culture of fraternal peoples,” he said.
The Organization of Turkic States is an interstate bloc, established with the aim of expanding cooperation between Turkic-speaking countries in the fields of politics, economics, science, education, transport, and tourism.
The members of the organization are Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Hungary and Turkmenistan have observer status in the organization.
