President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attends summit
On October 21st the first summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) started in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the summit.
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev welcomed President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Kirgizstan Roza Otunbayeva, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag and CCTS Secretary General Khalil Akinci.
Nursultan Nazarbayev welcomed the heads of the states and delegations of the Turkic Speaking States. He stressed the significance of the Nakhchivan Agreement signed in October 2009. He said international and regional issues will be discussed at the summit adding the priority of the CCTS is to expand trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian cooperation.
He stressed the necessity of strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations among the Turkic speaking states. Kazakh President said there were ample opportunities to cooperate within the Turkic world. Mr. Nazarbayev stressed the necessity to set up a Working Council of the Turkic Speaking States.
On humanitarian cooperation among the Turkic speaking states, Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed the importance of conducting the various cultural events and festivals. Touching on the role of TURKSOY, the Head of Kazakhstan said he supports a proposal of the President Ilham Aliyev to establish the Cultural Forum of the Turkic Speaking States in Baku. He said Astana will be declared as a cultural capital of the Turkic world in 2012.
The participants of the summit posed for photographs.
The Cooperation Council of the Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) as an international intergovernmental organization was founded by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Kirgizstan and Turkmenistan in 2009.
According to the two main CCTS documents, the Nakhchivan Agreement of 3 October 2009 and the Istanbul Declaration of 16 September 2010, member states of CCTS embrace the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, along with other universally recognized principles of international law. Established norms related to the maintenance of peace, security and development of good-neighborly relations lay the foundation for cooperation. CCTS plays an important role in development of international cooperation in the Central Asia and Caucasus.
The main objective of the Turkic Council is to enhance the political and economic cooperation between the Turkic Speaking States, and preserve historical ties of friendship and brotherhood, introduce the cultural richness of the countries and bring them closer to each other. CCTS, which covers the territory from China to Mediterranean Sea, may become an important factor in the political processes taking place in the Turkic world.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan addressed the summit.
Other speakers also expressed their opinions on the issues discussed.
The summit culminated in signing of the Almaty Declaration, which confirms the shared position of Turkish-speaking countries on a number of international and regional issues and outlines directions for cooperation in economic, cultural and humanitarian fields.
The summit participants also approved CCTS procedural rules adopted at the meeting of representatives of foreign ministries of the Turkish-speaking countries.
The next CCTS summit was decided to take place in Bishkek, Kirgizstan.
Following the summit, a statement for the press was made. It says the Almaty summit opens a new chapter for development and strengthening cooperation among Turkish-Speaking countries based on common history, language and culture. The participants expressed confidence to the families of the killed during terrorist acts in fraternal Turkey and strongly condiment them.{nl}

The summit was followed by a luncheon of the summit participants.

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