Türkiye aims to strengthen the Turkic world's resilience against disinformation and increase its international visibility through closer media cooperation, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said Friday, as Ankara prepared to assume the rotating chairmanship of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Speaking at the Turkic World Dialogue Forum, organized by Türkiye's Communications Directorate under the theme "From Ideas to Dialogue, Forward," Yılmaz emphasized the importance of strengthening cooperation in strategic communication, digital transformation and cultural integration.
"We aim to increase the Turkic world's resilience against disinformation and its international visibility," Yılmaz said.
The forum, attended by Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, was held alongside the 13th OTS Summit in Ankara.
Yılmaz described the Turkic world as a community united by centuries of shared history, language and cultural heritage, saying cooperation among Turkic nations had expanded significantly over the past 35 years.
He said Türkiye would use its OTS chairpersonship, taken over from Azerbaijan, to translate existing institutional cooperation into tangible benefits for regional stability, development and prosperity.
Yılmaz warned that disinformation, manipulation and misleading content could undermine public trust and international relations despite the growing accessibility of information through digital platforms.
He said countries' international influence increasingly depended not only on economic and military capabilities but also on their ability to produce reliable information and communicate their perspectives globally.
Highlighting existing OTS mechanisms, Yılmaz cited regular meetings of ministers responsible for media and information, the Media Coordination Committee and the Union of Turkic News Agencies, established in 2023.
He also pointed to an action plan adopted at the 2025 meeting of media and information ministers in Baku as a framework for expanding joint initiatives.
Yılmaz said these mechanisms would be used more effectively to counter disinformation and strengthen the international presence of Turkic nations.
Yılmaz also highlighted the adoption of guidelines for using the 34-letter Common Turkic Alphabet in Astana in June, describing the initiative as an important step toward strengthening linguistic and cultural ties.
He said the common alphabet would facilitate communication among Turkic peoples and support efforts to preserve their shared cultural heritage.
Meanwhile, Duran stressed the importance of developing high-quality digital content in Turkic languages to ensure artificial intelligence systems reflect the region's own historical and cultural perspectives.
"We must produce quality content in our own languages and from our own sources and ensure that artificial intelligence models are also fed by our data," Duran said.
He warned that without stronger digital representation, narratives about the Turkic world could increasingly be shaped by external sources.
Duran also emphasized the region's growing geopolitical importance, citing energy corridors stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean and Europe, alongside the Middle Corridor's transportation infrastructure.
Speaking at a separate panel on parliamentary diplomacy, Turkish lawmaker Fuat Oktay called for stronger institutional cooperation and joint projects among Turkic countries.
Oktay said the Turkic world represented a population of approximately 250 million, an economy exceeding $2.5 trillion and foreign trade approaching $1 trillion.
He stressed that the region's strategic geographical position, young population and economic resources offered significant opportunities for deeper integration.
Yılmaz also reaffirmed Türkiye's commitment to advancing the OTS Turkic World Vision 2040, which outlines long-term cooperation in political coordination, economic connectivity, science, technology, culture and youth development.
