A senior official from Türkiye’s ruling party said Friday that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a firm and determined will to advance cooperation across the Turkic world, announcing plans to promote Turkology departments in Turkish universities.
Kürşad Zorlu, deputy chair of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and head of relations with Turkic states, spoke to reporters in Baku following a conference marking the 100th anniversary of the First Turkology Congress, held on Feb. 26, 1926.
Zorlu said the original congress brought together scholars from across the Turkic world to negotiate issues of common language and adopt the Latin alphabet, describing the anniversary as “a historic day” for Turkic nations.
He noted that communication among Turkic states weakened during the Soviet era but said they are now strengthening unity under the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Zorlu recalled that member states had reached a consensus on adopting a 34-letter common alphabet framework.
“With the will of our heads of state, the dedicated efforts of our institutions and the belief of our peoples, we believe we will carry this into the future,” he said.
He added that Türkiye’s Education Ministry had agreed to introduce new measures to encourage and prioritize Turkology departments, arguing that strengthening the field would bolster linguistic convergence and help transmit shared history and culture to future generations.
