President Nazarbayev calls Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States

Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS), Novosti Kazakhstan reports. “We want the Council to be a full-fledged international organization. We hope our Uzbek and Turkmen brothers will join us over time”, Nazarbayev said October 21 when opening the first Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States in Almaty. “I believe the Council’s Secretariat should thrash out issues related to signing of all required agreements with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan”, he said. The summit is to focus primarily on expanding the trade and economic cooperation and humanitarian cooperation. The Almaty Declaration is expected to be signed following the event. The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) was established in 2009 as an international intergovernmental organization, with the overarching aim of promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic Speaking States. Its four founding member States are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. According to the two main CCTS documents, the Nakhcivan 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-neighbourly relations lay the foundation for cooperation to be promoted under CCTS. The Council seeks to strengthen the unity of the people living in related cultures and languages.