President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan left yesterday for Azerbaijan for the convening of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, also known as the Turkic Council. Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring and the full membership process for Uzbekistan will be on the agenda at the summit.

This year’s council marks its 10th anniversary and is hosted by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the capital Baku. Erdoğan will inform the leaders of the member countries on Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria, which aims to eradicate terrorism from Turkey’s southern borders.

On the first day, foreign ministers of the Turkic Council will gather, where Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will represent Turkey. On Tuesday, Uzbekistan’s membership to the council will be rendered official. Furthermore, Kazakhstan's founding President Nursultan Nazarbayev will be given the title of honorary president due to his efforts and contributions in uniting the Turkic world.

"The new period will be different. It will be a period when deeper relations in several areas and closer cooperation will be established," stated the council’s Secretary-General Baghdad Amreyev.

The Turkic Council Business Forum with the participation of the ministers responsible for the economy of the member countries will also be held today organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) within the scope of the summit with the main theme "Enhancing small and medium-sized enterprises."

"In the last 10 years, we realized the founding and institutionalization. Now we can say with pride that we have reached the end of this period. The leaders will speak on the new period," said Amreyev.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will attend as an observer member and Turkmenistan's Prime Minister Pürli Agamuradov, who is not a member but still attends, will also be present during the summit.

On the sidelines of the summit, Erdoğan is expected to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of the council before returning to Turkey on Oct. 15.

Communications between the Turkish Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Culture and Heritage Foundation, the Turkish Academy, the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) and the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries, which undertake vital functions in several areas and are linked to the Turkic Council, will be enhanced. It is also expected that the decision regarding the establishment of the Turkic Council Coordination Committee will be taken during the summit, according to a statement released yesterday by the Directorate of Communications.

The Turkic Council was established in 2009 as an international intergovernmental organization to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states. Its four founding member states are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

Since 2011, the Turkic Council convenes its annual summits under certain topics, where the heads of state of the Turkic Council evaluate the past period and set goals for the next year.

With its subcommittees focusing on special areas, the Turkic Council is committed to the purpose and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other universally recognized principles and norms of international law, including sovereign equality, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of states, as well as the maintenance of international peace, security and development of good-neighborly and friendly relations.

The Turkic Council is an organization dedicated to strengthening peace and stability, promoting wide-ranging cooperation and disclosing the potential for common development among its member states. Although it brings together a particular group of countries, the organization does not take an exclusive approach. On the contrary, by promoting deeper relations and solidarity among Turkic-speaking countries, it aims to serve as a new regional instrument for advancing international cooperation in the Eurasian continent, particularly in Central Asia and the Caucasus.