Erdoğan to address Organization of Turkic States summit in Samarkand
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attends Turkic Council meeting in Istanbul, Türkiye, March 31, 2021. (IHA File Photo)


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan to attend the 9th summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and enhance relations, on Nov. 10-11, a statement by the presidency said Wednesday.

Türkiye will transfer the term presidency to Uzbekistan at the summit, which will focus on crucial resolutions, including the OTS’s vision document, which outlines the organization’s roadmap for the next 20 years, and future decisions.

The summit will also touch upon enhancing cooperation among member states.

Erdoğan is expected to address the summit session and will also hold bilateral talks with leaders of other member-states on the sidelines of the meeting.

The OTS, formerly called the Turkic Council or the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, is an international organization comprising prominent independent Turkic countries that work together to elevate relations and the union among themselves.

The OTS originally emerged as a summit between the heads of Turkic states in 1991 and eventually became an international council in 2009, holding over 10 summits so far.

The president is also expected to visit Indonesia, Qatar and Bahrain this month.