Uzbekistan joins Turkic Council, Turkmenistan willing to become observer

AKIPRESS.COM - Uzbekistan has made the decision to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking Countries (Turkic Council), Turkish Foreign Minister Nevlut Cavusoglu said. The Cooperation Council is gradually growing and the regular summit will be held on October 16, Anadolu cited the Turkish Foreign Minister as saying.
"Uzbekistan has made the decision to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking Countries. The official request of the Uzbek side arrived at the Turkic Council secretariat," Cavusoglu state.
The documents for accession have been submitted to Tashkent. The official accession procedure will be completed in the near time, the Foreign Minister said.
Turkmenistan expressed readiness to join the Council as observer, he added.
Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic States Baghdad Amreyev together with his aide plans to travel to Ashgabat. The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States will become an important regional player soon, Mevlut Cavusoglu stated.
He reminded Hungary has obtained an observer country status at the Issyk-Kul summit last year. The opening ceremony of the European office of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking Countries will be held on September 19 in presence of the Foreign Ministers of the participating countries, Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
The Turkic Council is an international organization comprising some of the Turkic countries. It was founded on 3 October 2009 in Nakhchivan. The idea of setting up this cooperative council was first put forward by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev back in 2006.
The General Secretariat is in İstanbul, Turkey. The member countries are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.