Tatarstan’s capital Kazan hosted the closing ceremony as a wrap-up of its role as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Youth Capital for 2022. The ceremony, accompanied by an event where OIC youth leaders were awarded, was the culmination of events attended by thousands throughout the year in the capital city of Tatarstan in the Russian Federation.

Speaking at a news conference on the occasion on Thursday, Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) President Taha Ayhan noted that this year Tatarstan was marking the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria, and this also contributed to the selection of Kazan as a Youth Capital.

"Throughout the year, Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022 created a unique platform that brought together young people, policymakers, international organizations, young leaders and experts in different fields to exchange experiences. Thousands of people from more than 70 countries, including ministers, representatives of international organizations, young entrepreneurs and young people from the field of culture, arts and science, participated in the events held throughout the year," he said.

"We attach great importance to the exchange of ideas on how young people can effectively and meaningfully participate in agendas focused on global needs. This program created an essential opportunity for the Muslim youth, who will soon constitute one-third of the world's youth population, to share their rich heritage and culture with each other from a global perspective. The Kazan Global Youth Summit, organized as a part of the events, was a valuable platform where decision-makers, civil society representatives and youth leaders came together to discuss better, happier and safer youth policies and share experiences. We believe that the summit enhanced efforts to identify common road maps on issues such as inequality of opportunity, migration and intercultural dialogue," Ayhan added.

Last year, the ICYF secured consultative status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), something Ayhan said "enabled us to be the voice of Muslim youth and encouraged our work to empower young people, provide them with opportunities, develop skills and facilitate networking, participation and contribution. As the ICYF, we believe that it is important for young people to be involved in decision-making processes for their future and to increase cooperation with international organizations and governments. As the ICYF, we believe that harnessing the talent of young people, who play a fundamental role in the progress of their countries, is a sine qua non for socio-economic development."

For his part, Timur Suleymanov, Tatarstan’s minister for youth affairs, said the events presented an opportunity for youth from different countries to meet and actively participate in them, noting that throughout the years, debates were held on migration, health care, security and challenges in digital fields. "The legacy of this year’s events will be a long-term program for international cooperation between the youth," he said.

Elsewhere, the OIC Youth Leaders awards were presented to recipients from around the world. Azat Nurmukhametov of Tatarstan won the young ethnosportsman/woman of the year award, while Bangladesh’s Nazmul Hassan Khan was chosen as photographer of the year. Algerian video blogger Khubaib Kuas won the media influencer award, while Azerbaijan’s Sarah Rajabli and Burkina Faso’s Abdul-Fatau Maiga won young social entrepreneurs awards. Niger’s Sulei Kallo Mutari and Türkiye’s Tuba Erkoç Baydar were picked as young researchers of the year. The "House of Etiquette" project from Jordan won the public diplomacy project of the year award. Indonesian singer and composer Tarapti Ikhtiar Rinrin bagged the young ambassador of Islamic culture and art of the year award.

The awards are courtesy of the World Ethnosport Confederation, headed by Türkiye’s Bilal Erdoğan, the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) of the OIC.

Speaking to Daily Sabah on the sidelines of the event, Taha Ayhan said: "I can proudly say that we have achieved our strategic target for declaring Kazan the OIC Youth Capital because when we declared Kazan as the OIC Youth Capital, we wanted to enhance the cooperation and links, bridges between the Muslim youth in the Russian Federation and with Muslim youth in other parts of the globe. We have witnessed just today, in the closing ceremony, under different themes, under different titles, we have created such links, bridges, between Tatarstan, between Russian Federation Muslims and other parts of the world."

The ICYF now eyes Africa as the next host. "Our aim is to declare one African capital as the OIC Youth Capital. We have three candidate cities and there is hot competition among them. We want to emphasize the importance of Africa and how they will affect the future of the planet," Ayhan said.

In a world of challenges, Ayhan said, "The biggest problem of the Muslim youth is inequality of opportunities and not to being a part of the decision-making process. I want to encourage them to take on a bigger role in decision-making processes.