Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkey's Foreign Minister has said, despite living in different states, Turkic-speaking peoples are considered one nation.

Ahmet Davutoglu made the remarks on June 4 at a meeting of foreign ministers held in Turkey as part of the 4th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States.

"Our peoples, governments and the entire world are witnessing this fact that the Turkic-speaking peoples are one nation, even though they live in different states," Davutoglu stressed.

He went on to add that the ties which are based on a common language, religion, history, culture, and shared values closely link these peoples together.

Regarding the summit's topic dedicated to tourism, Davutoglu said the significance attached to tourism is not limited to economic goals.

"Tourism will develop relations between peoples and will make it possible to revive cultural ties between them. At the same time, tourism will contribute to the cooperation between us," Davutoglu said.

He added that the summit is being held amid dynamic changes in the region and the world.

"Today, it is very important to expand our cooperation. Last month, we often met with the Turkic-speaking states' representatives both in bilateral and in multilateral formats. During the last 15 days, we met frequently," Davutoglu said.

Davutoglu also stressed that the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States is not against the interest of any country or bloc.

Turkish city of Bodrum hosted the 4th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States on June 4-5.

Azerbaijan was represented by a delegation headed by Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. At the Council of Aksakals (Elders), Azerbaijan was represented by the chairman of the Board of Aksakals of Azerbaijan, MP Fattah Heydarov.

Informing on organization's activity for the past period under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan, Mammadyarov noted the significance of joint economic projects realized by the Turkic countries. He suggested strengthening the economic agenda of the organization and paying much attention to cooperation in the forthcoming period in the field of information technologies.

Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Abdildayev, in turn, said the Organization is capable to solve the objectives successfully in the years ahead.

Furthermore, the participants of the meeting stated that the development of cooperation in the sphere of tourism will be in the focus of the session. They agreed to adopt a joint tour package "Turkic Council - modern Silk Road" that will be drafted by a special working group. The Business Association for Tourism Development is to be set up in order to deepen and expand cooperation within the Council.

The next session of the Foreign Ministers Council of Turkic Speaking Countries is set to be held in Azerbaijan in May 2015.

Previous summit of Turkic-speaking countries was held in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan city in August, 2013.

The Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) was established in 2009 in Nakhchivan as an international intergovernmental organization, with the overarching aim of promoting comprehensive cooperation among Turkic Speaking States.

Its four founding member States are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

The remaining two Turkic states, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are not currently official members of the council due to their neutral stance.