This year Kazakhstan successfully chaired a number of authoritative international and regional organisations, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), the Islamic Food Security Organisation (IFSI) and the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). While Kazakhstan was at the very origin of some of these organisations, in relation to others it was among their active initiators.

As for the Turkic world, it is known that the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS), which has become an authoritative international association today, came into existence at the initiative of our country. It is not by chance that the first summit of this organisation, founded in 2009 as the Cooperation Council of Turkic-speaking States (Turkic Council), was held in Almaty in 2011.

After the renaming in 2021, the TSC (the secretariat is located in Istanbul) includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey, while Turkmenistan and Hungary have observer status. In addition, our country was the main initiator of the establishment of other structures of the Turkic world, including TURKSOY (secretariat in Ankara), which brings together ministers of culture, TURKPA (secretariat in Baku), which deals with the development of inter-parliamentary cooperation, as well as the Turkic Academy (secretariat in Astana), covering the field of education and science.

Last November, the 10th anniversary summit of the OTGs was held in Astana under the chairmanship of Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev. The head of state said: ‘Kazakhstan is interested in further development of the Organisation of Turkic States. Deepening Turkic integration is our common endeavour. We should promote a new brand called ‘Turkic World’. Only then the unity of Turkic peoples will be strengthened and their potential will increase’.

To strengthen the organisation and build its capacity, the Kazakh chairmanship has set priorities for the Turkic World's development over the next ten years. At the summit, held under the slogan ‘Turktime’ (i.e. ‘Turkic Era’), Kasym-Jomart Kemelovich presented eight directions, each of which begins with a Latin letter of this brand. These directions are traditions, unification, reforms, knowledge, trust, investments, mediation and energy.

Speaking at the opening of the summit held in Bishkek in early November this year (Kazakhstan's chairmanship was handed over to the Kyrgyz side), Kasym-Jomart Tokayev drew attention to the fact that the meeting is being held in the year of the 15th anniversary of the OTG. ‘The Organisation of Turkic States has become an authoritative structure in a short period of time, its international status has grown significantly. This is primarily the result of our fruitful unity and common efforts. I am convinced that today's meeting will further strengthen our cohesion,’ the President noted.

Over 80 events have been successfully implemented during Kazakhstan's presidency. Among the most significant achievements are the holding of the 5th World Nomad Games, agreement on a unified Turkic alphabet, the launch of the Turkic Investment Fund, as well as the completion of the necessary procedures for the creation of a special economic zone ‘Turan’.

In addition, on the initiative of our country, the flags of the Organisation of Turkic States and other pan-Turkic structures (TURKSOY, TurkPA, Turkic Academy, etc.) were unified. It is especially important for our country that the colour scheme of the flags was brought in line with the colour of the State Flag of Kazakhstan. Another significant contribution on the part of Kazakhstan was the approval of the rules for the appointment of permanent representatives of the participating States to the Organisation of Turkic States. This will undoubtedly strengthen coordination between the OTS Secretariat and the member countries, as well as increase the international prestige of the organisation.

Speaking about the main events, it can be noted that the 5th World Nomad Games, held in Astana from 8 to 13 September, was undoubtedly an ethno-sports, cultural and image event of important political significance not only for the Turkic world, but also on a global scale. Indeed, it was a world ethno-sports competition, which included representatives of 89 countries - from cowboys of America and aborigines of Australia to Scandinavian Vikings and natives of Africa, in total over two thousand athletes. In their scope these games were comparable to the Olympic Games, and they may well be called ‘Nomadias’.

As for the issue of a common alphabet, on the instructions of the heads of state, a special commission was set up by the scientists of the Turkic Academy, which held a number of meetings under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. As a result, a sample of a common alphabet based on the common 34-letter Latin script was agreed upon, taking into account the peculiarities of each Turkic language. It should be noted that the society perceived this news positively, and now there is an opinion that all Turkic states will immediately switch to this common alphabet. In fact, according to experts, including representatives of the Turkic Academy, the members of the commission only worked out a unified decision and offered an agreed version of the common alphabet to the attention of the TNA countries. The main purpose of this step is to unify and systematise the alphabets of related languages. After all, today Turkic-speaking states use different variants of the Latin script, which is known to make mutual understanding difficult. And further acceptance or rejection of the proposed version of the unified alphabet is the prerogative of each individual country.
The Turkic Investment Fund, one of the main initiators of which is considered to be Kazakhstan, became the first financial institution for the economic integration of Turkic states. With the authorised capital of 1 billion dollars, this fund pays special attention to the financial support of joint infrastructure projects in key sectors of the participating countries.

One of the significant initiatives of our country was the creation of the special economic zone ‘Turan’. According to the decision of the OTH Summit in Samarkand in 2022, such a zone was established in the spiritual capital of the Turkic world - the city of Turkestan. The participants of this zone, first of all investors from Turkic states, will be granted special legal conditions until 2043, including tax exemption, customs privileges and provision of free land plots. The implementation of this large-scale project will undoubtedly become a new impetus to prosperity and development not only for Kazakhstan, but also for the countries of Central Asia and the entire Turkic world.

Summarising the above, we can say that strengthening close ties with brotherly Turkic states is one of the priority directions in our country's multi-vector policy. Under the conditions of a complex geopolitical situation in the vast Eurasian space, with the aggravation of confrontation between world powers, the concept of ‘Middle Power’ formulated by President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev demonstrates the effectiveness of a balanced and peace-loving policy of Kazakhstan, inclined to dialogue and mutual consent. In this context, further development of stable ties with the Turkic world will serve as a guarantee of preserving the balance of interests in the conditions of the possible influence of other world centres of power on our country.

 

Yerzhan MUKASH,

former Deputy Secretary General

of the Organisation of Turkic States