The Summit of Organization of Turkic States (OTS) Samarkand – Opportunities & Challenges -by – Tazeen Akhtar

Tazeen Akhtar/ Editor / Islamabad/ Pakistan/ 11 Nov 2022

Samarkand has been the center of Central Asia for centuries where the people of known world used to meet en-route to their destinations from China to Caucasus and Istanbul, from Khorasan to Hindustan. This Samarkand is again making a history when Uzbekistan is hosting the first Summit of Organization of Turkic States (OTS), established instead of the Turkic Council on Nov 11, 2022. It is being hosted by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, H.E. Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

Since 2011, the Organization convenes its annual summits under certain topics, where the Heads of State of the Member States evaluate the past period and set goals for the next year. The member states have huge opportunities as well as gigantic challenges to tackle and solve.

Turkic Council was established on Oct 3, 2009 at Nakhchivan, the autonomous region of Azerbaijan by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Türkiye. During the 7thSummit held in Baku in October 2019, Uzbekistan joined as a full member. Hungary received observer status during its 6th Summit in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyz Republic in Sep 2018. Turkmenistan joined as Observer Member at the 8th Summit held in Nov 2021 in Istanbul. Here the Turkic Council was renamed as the Organization of Turkic States.

Now when it has been renamed as OTS but the main purpose remain the same, to unite with the aim of comprehensive cooperation between the Turkic nations.The leaders will shape up organization’s strategic action plan for the next 5 years. Turkmenistan and Hungary are participating as observers.

The population of the Turkic States is 150 million,area of over 4.5 million square KM, total GDP 1.5 trillion USD, ranking the 13th as a whole in the world. The states have common history, language, identity, culture that are said to be 4 pillars of OTS. The leaders will focus on cooperation in economy, science, education, transportation, customs, tourism and other sectors.

Official sources in Uzbekistan share that the economic efficiency of cooperation within the framework of the OTS can be seen in the example of Uzbekistan. In 2021, Uzbekistan, together with the OTS states, carried out trade operations worth $9.3 billion. Their share in Uzbekistan’s foreign trade exceeded 22 percent. In general, compared to 2016, in 2021 the volume of mutual trade turnover increased almost 3 times.

OTS is aimed at creating favorable conditions for trade and investment, further simplifying customs and transit procedures, as well as enhancing cooperation in science and technology, education, healthcare, culture, youth, sports and tourism, popularizing the great cultural and historical heritage of the Turkic peoples.

Samarkand on Nov 9, hosted meetings of OTS Ministers of Commerce and on Nov 10 of Council of Foreign Ministers of the member countries. The ministers discussed the matters coming up before the leaders at the summit.

As shared by the OTC itself on their page, the Organization is committed to the purpose and principles of the Charter of the United Nations (UN) 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-neighbourly and friendly relations.

The description of OTS further states that the organization is 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 amongst Turkic speaking countries, it aims to serve as a new regional instrument for advancing international cooperation in Eurasian continent, particularly in Central Asia and Caucasus.

Mainly it is a multilateral cooperation for the benefit of the region. The principal organs of the Organization are the Council of Heads of State, the Council of Foreign Ministers, the Council of Elders, the Senior Officials Committee and the Secretariat.

The introduction of the OTS has been shared as “The activities of the organization are also supported by its related and affiliated organizations such as the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA), the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY), the International Turkic Academy, the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation, the Turkic Business Council, the Turkic University Union and the Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”

Turkic speaking nations enjoy the strategic geographic location and face the multidimensional challenges at the same time.

The first Summit is being held when Afghanistan situation is still volatile with no broad based government in Kabul as agreed by the stakeholders and mediators at Doha.

Russian invasion of Ukraine is another obstacle in the peace and stability of the regions around the OTS states. Turkiye brokered grain deal but Russia withdrew from it escalating the already present critical situation in Eurasia.

Caucasus is still concerned about the trilateral agreement of Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan. Armenia is not abiding by the set agreements. The mines installed in Karabakh are still taking lives of civilians and military of Azerbaijan.

Kazakhstan hardly controlled the revolt last year that sucked Russian forces into the country that shows not only the presence of disturbance there but lack of the capability of the Kazakh government to settle the differences with the dissent voices.

Border clashes between Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan started exactly at a time when the Presidents of both countries were attending SCO Summit in Uzbekistan in mid Sep 2022.

Article 2 of the Nakhchivan Agreement is related to issues of strengthening and maintaining peace and security, as well as political, trade and economic, law enforcement, environmental, cultural, scientific and technical, military-technical, educational, energy, development of effective regional and bilateral cooperation in transport and credit are among the important goals and objectives of the Organization.

Lets see how the leaders take these challenges and how they move forward to solve the issues that hamper the pace of development and construction of meaningful cooperation between the member states.