An Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States will be held at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev

International News Desk

According to global Times Media Europe, On March 16, the Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (TDT) will be held in Ankara. Global Times Media Europe informs that this event was held in Ankara at the initiative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. Thus, it was planned to hold the Summit in Shusha earlier. However, in connection with the terrible earthquake that occurred in Turkey, President Ilham Aliyev made a proposal to hold the Summit in Ankara in order to support the brotherly country. After coordination with the leadership of other participating countries, a relevant decision was made. This is once again a clear example of Azerbaijan-Turkey brotherhood, mutual support and respect in the Turkic world.
In general, in recent years, relations and cooperation between the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States have been getting stronger.

At the Summit meeting of TDT held in Samarkand last year, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev emphasized that the Turkish states should continue to show mutual support and solidarity, taking into account each other’s national interests. The head of state said at the same summit:Strengthening relations with the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States in all fields is one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan’s foreign policy. Azerbaijan has always contributed to the close union of the Turkic world and will continue to be committed to the actions of the unity of the Turkic world.

Starting from the Nakhchivan Summit in 2009, our organization has gone through a great path of development.The head of our state also noted that the Turkish states should activate cooperation in the fields of security, defense, defense industry, in addition to political, economic, commercial, cultural, transport, energy, digital transformation, agriculture, and tourism.

Convening of the Extraordinary Summit of the TDT on the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan, which will be devoted to the topic of disaster-emergency management and humanitarian assistance, is a continuation of the mentioned statements of the head of our state. Azerbaijan has been one of the countries that has provided the most support to Turkey in connection with the recent earthquakes that occurred in our brother Turkey. It is worth noting only one fact that the total amount of humanitarian and financial aid provided by Azerbaijan to brother Turkey from February 6 to March 15 in connection with the earthquake is 76 million 344 thousand 930 manats (44 million 908 thousand 783 US dollars). Turkey received humanitarian aid in the amount of 53 million 568 thousand 530 manats (31 million 510 thousand 900 dollars), and direct financial aid in the amount of 22 million 776 thousand 400 manats (13 million 397 thousand 883 dollars).this is Of course, no country is immune from natural disasters.

The purpose of this Summit is to discuss practical cooperation in the mentioned field, and to demonstrate support in eliminating the consequences of the terrible earthquake that happened to our brother Turkey. The Summit, dedicated to the topic “Natural disaster – elimination of emergency situations and humanitarian aid”, will be a platform where the issues related to the emergency situation caused by the earthquake in the southern and southeastern regions of Turkey will be discussed at the highest level.The leaders will draw attention to the creation of close multilateral cooperation and coordination mechanisms within the Organization of Turkic States in the fight against disasters, and will hold consultations regarding the current challenges in the region.

All this shows that, as the head of state mentioned in his speech at the Samarkand Summit, cooperation within the framework of TDT is given an additional practical content. Within the framework of the summit, the signing of the Ankara Declaration is expected, as well as the adoption of a relevant decision on strengthening cooperation in the field of civil defense. An agreement on the establishment of the Turkish Investment Fund is also expected to be signed at the Summit.

It should be noted that the initiative to create this Fund belongs to President Ilham Aliyev. It was the President of Azerbaijan who initiated the creation of the Turkish Investment Fund during the IV Summit held in Bodrum in June 2014.These initiatives, the concrete steps taken and the positive results achieved are indicative of the rich experience gained as a result of Azerbaijan’s successful chairmanship of prestigious international organizations under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, as well as visionary and proactive leadership ability.

The successful leadership epic of Azerbaijan from the chairmanship of the UN Security Council to prestigious international organizations is the successive achievements of President Ilham Aliyev and the independent Republic of Azerbaijan, which he rapidly developed and brought to a worthy position in the world arena. In just half a month – the Summit meeting of the Contact Group of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Baku under the chairmanship of the head of our state on March 2, holding the X Global Baku Forum on March 9-11, today, the participation of our head of state in the extraordinary summit meeting of the TDT is another clear example of President Ilham Aliyev’s flexible, active and successful foreign policy. All this serves to continuously promote the national interests of our country at the international level and to further improve its image.