The Organization of Turkic States was a common dream of the Turkic-speaking states, and it came true, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the opening of the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the organization in Ankara on Thursday.
According to him, Türkiye stands for strengthening unity and cooperation in the Turkic world.
He thanked Azerbaijan for initiating the extraordinary summit of the Organization of Turkic states, as well as the current chairman of the organization - Uzbekistan for transferring the right to host the summit of the leaders of the organization to Türkiye.
"Türkiye is going through great grief today. We know that other countries, including those in the OTS space, share the grief of our people. Our friends not only expressed their condolences to Türkiye, but also showed solidarity, supporting them in difficult times. Brigades of rescuers were promptly sent to the disaster zone and field hospitals were deployed.The support provided to Türkiye proved once again that our strength lies in unity!" Cavusoglu said.
He expressed confidence that "the unity of the Turkic-speaking states will allow the states to manage historical processes, and not go with the flow of geopolitical events."
The minister called for intensifying consultations at the level of the OTS foreign ministries as well.
The meeting of the OTS Ministerial Council precedes the summit of the leaders of the organization, which will be held today in the Turkish capital.
The Disaster Management and Humanitarian Aid Summit was launched amid the aftermath of the devastating February earthquakes in Türkiye.
The participants of the event honored the memory of tens of thousands of earthquake victims in the south and southeast of Türkiye with a minute of silence.
The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States was established in 2009. In November 2021, at the summit in Istanbul, the organization was named the Organization of Turkic States.
The OTS includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan and Hungary participate as observers.