Ankara, 30 October. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, at the 13th summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara, proposed responding positively to Russia’s intention and inviting it to the “OTS+” format or to take part in the organisation’s work as an observer; the OTS chairmanship passed from Azerbaijan to Turkey, Akorda said.
“As a major power, Russia has maintained close ties with the Turkic world for centuries. Representatives of many Turkic peoples have historically lived on its territory,” the President said. He recalled that Russia is promoting the project “Altai — the cradle of Turkic civilisation”, which Kazakhstan supports, and added: “On the whole, if Russia became part of the Turkic countries, that is, of our Organization, it would benefit all our states.” How the other participants responded had not been reported at the time of publication.
On the economy, Tokayev spoke in figures: Kazakhstan’s trade with OTS countries this year approached 10 billion dollars, up 40% on last year. He proposed speeding up adoption of the OTS Strategy for 2027–2031 and tying it to concrete projects, using the Turkic Investment Fund and holding a business forum of the Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kazakhstan in 2027. Cargo on the Middle Corridor — the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route — rose by 30% in nine months, with transit up 90%; rail freight between Kazakhstan and OTS countries approached 40 million tonnes.
Separately, the President listed Kazakhstan’s digital projects — the Alem.ai AI centre, the Qazaq AI Research University, a 1 GW data centre valley, two operating supercomputers with a third on the way, the Digital Code and the AI law — and proposed speeding up the creation of an OTS Cybersecurity Council. He called for cutting the organisation’s areas of work, which already number 60, some of them duplicating each other, for creating a Council of Permanent Representatives, and repeated that the OTS “is not and must not become a military alliance in the future”. Kazakhstan also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Mirvokhid Azimov of Uzbekistan became the new OTS Secretary General, succeeding Kubanychbek Omuraliev.
What it means: Kazakhstan has for the first time publicly proposed expanding the Turkic organisation to include Russia, a non-member, while demanding that the OTS focus on fewer areas and more concrete projects.
Who benefits: Russia would gain possible access to a platform where Turkey and Central Asian countries now play the main role. Kazakhstan would gain the role of a go-between for Ankara and Moscow, its largest trading partners. The positions of Turkey and the other members on the proposal are not yet known.
Background: The OTS unites Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan; Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are observers. The summit is held under the motto “The Turkic Century: unity in language, thought and action”, in the centenary year of the First Turkological Congress in Baku. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev did not attend.
We have also reported that the Turkic states’ summit opened in Ankara without Azerbaijan’s president.
