Nations of Turkic world meet in Baku

BAKU – Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

A number of Turkish-speaking countries came together to discuss how to strengthen cooperation in education at the 5th Turkish National Commission for UNESCO meeting in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, on Dec. 18.

The meeting’s main purpose was to discuss mechanisms that enable the International Organization of Turkic Culture to act together.

“A group of Turkish-speaking countries makes it possible for our voices to be heard,” said Öcal Oğuz, the commission’s chairman.

Oğuz added that during a meeting held in Ankara in 2010, the commission decided that all countries’ UNESCO issues would be discussed together and that this has been accomplished.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev, Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov, Education Minister Mikayil Jabbarov, and many other representatives from member countries attended the meeting.

“The International Organization of Turkic Culture and UNESCO protect our common cultural heritage and we should combine and strengthen our efforts to pass on our culture and history to future generations,” Mammadyarov said.

The International Organization of Turkic Culture is made up of countries with Turkic populations, speaking languages belonging to the Turkic language family.

As of 2013, the International Organization of Turkic Culture has six sovereign member states and eight non-sovereign observer states.

Altai Republic, Azerbaijan, Bashkortostan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Tatarstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are among the members of the organization.