The time is now and opportune for the Turkic world to seriously wield its power without expecting handouts or relying on anyone, Türkiye’s Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş said Thursday as he addressed a joint conference with Azerbaijan on the “Century of the Turkic World: New Role Model in Political, Economic Relations” in the capital Ankara.
“It’s not possible to make headway in the 21st century by benefiting from the conditions someone else has created. We will continue on our path toward not utopic but rational goals by relying on our self-power while creating a peaceful environment with world nations,” Kurtulmuş told the event.
Warning that a period that will offer “major opportunities and greater threats” is due, Kurtulmuş argued no state across Central Asia would be able to “go anywhere solo” and “whatever we are to do, we must do it as a chorus.”
Turkic republics, which cooperate under the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), have the means to produce a certain level of power, the parliament speaker said, citing a “serious willpower” for these states to “move as one toward shared goals.”
The OTS is an international organization comprising prominent independent Turkic countries that work together to elevate intra-bloc relations, as well as the union.
In addition to Türkiye, its members consist of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. EU state Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have observer status.
Kurtulmuş contended that these nations have come to a point where they can “have a say and an impact” along a corridor stretching from the heart of Central Asia to Europe, “so long as they build their own center line rather than being condemned to the west and east axis.”
“If Turkic states establish their own axis, a new power, decision-maker, as well as a new political idea and economic power center will emerge,” he said, stressing that such a move was “vital” for a world where “every corner is rife with conflict.”
“Therefore, the 'Century of Türkiye' is not just a political rhetoric; it must be a shared target for our people,” Kurtulmuş said.
The "Century of Türkiye" is a visionary program President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan unveiled last year; it encapsulates an ambitious set of political, economic, social and cultural innovations and developments his government aims to accomplish to celebrate Türkiye’s centenary as a republic.
He previously said the movement would “simultaneously be the age of the Turkic world,” especially in light of trade, energy, defense industry and transportation cooperation between Türkiye and Azerbaijan, which enjoy a strategic location between the East and the West.
The countries are connected by the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, which transports Azerbaijani gas to Europe. The sides have this year agreed to increase the pipeline’s capacity, bringing Türkiye into a hub position. They also plan to open and build a railway through the Zangezur corridor land route in the South Caucasus, originally a part of Azerbaijan but given to Armenia in the 1920s, which deprived Azerbaijan of a direct link to its exclave Nakhchivan.
Similarly, Türkiye hopes to make great contributions to world peace by facilitating balance and stability in its region by collaborating with Azerbaijan, Kurtulmuş said on Thursday.
He praised Erdoğan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s leadership that has set bilateral cooperation in a “one nation-two state” mindset.
Turning to the Armenian occupation of the Azerbaijani territory of Karabakh, which he said was “ignored by the international community” for three decades, Kurtulmuş said Azerbaijan has “managed to pull itself by its own bootstraps with Türkiye’s help and liberated Karabakh,” referring to a fall 2020 war in the disputed territory against rival Armenia.
