The Turkic world has strengthened its inter-relations through the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and bilateral, triple and quadruple mechanisms, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Tuesday.
Çavuşoğlu addressed the Türkiye-Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan trilateral foreign ministers meeting held before the "Avaza Summit" in Avaza, Turkmenistan.
"With today's ministerial meetings and tomorrow's leaders' summit, we will take concrete steps in the fields of trade, energy, transport, economy, customs, education, science and culture," he said.
Stating that he is pleased to meet with the foreign ministers of the three brotherly countries, Çavuşoğlu said that the energy and transportation ministers of the three countries also held tripartite meetings separately.
"Our common cultural heritage, common language and religion, and our history bind us together," he stated.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will head to Turkmenistan on Tuesday to attend the first summit between the leaders of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.
Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdimuhamedov will meet in the western Turkmen city of Avaza to address steps to further deepen the cooperation between the three countries in all areas, particularly in trade, energy and transportation, the Turkish Presidency said in a statement.
At the summit, the leaders will sign several agreements that aim to strengthen the cooperation. Erdoğan also will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit.
"During the summit and the ministerial meetings, all aspects of the existing cooperation, particularly in the fields of trade, energy and transportation, among the three countries will be discussed, and the exchange of views on current regional and international issues will take place," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The summit of the Organization of Turkic States was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan last month.
The presidents of Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Türkiye, the prime minister of Hungary, and the head of the upper house of the Parliament of Turkmenistan participated in the event.
The summit was held under the slogan "A new era of Turkic civilization: On the way to common development and prosperity."
The participants of the meeting plan discussed issues of economic cooperation and the current international agenda.
Türkiye passed the chairpersonship to Uzbekistan, and the Samarkand Declaration was adopted as part of the event.
The Organization of Turkic States is an interstate bloc established to expand cooperation between Turkish-speaking countries in the fields of politics, economics, science, education, transport and tourism.
The organization's members are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan. Hungary and Turkmenistan have observer status in the organization.
The group could expand further if Turkmenistan becomes a full member – an expansion announced by Türkiye's Foreign Ministry but not confirmed by Ashgabat. If Turkmenistan does join, the union set up in 2009 will incorporate all the Central Asian countries that speak languages in the Turkic language family.
