Continuing its steady growth trajectory, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) met for its 11th annual meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in November, building cultural and institutional ties. The intergovernmental grouping – made up of Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, along with Turkmenistan, Hungary, and the largely unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – has continued building organizational momentum in recent years.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Bishkek Declaration announced new initiatives, including a shared vision of the green energy transition, the launch of a “Turkic Green Finance Council,” digital technology development, and coordination of financial institutions. On the foreign policy side, the summit emphasized the importance of establishing a working group for Afghanistan relations aimed at OTS member states establishing a common approach to the now Taliban-ruled country. The Declaration also called for intergovernmental agreements to create and support various common standards among its members, including in the fields of finance, digital and e-commerce, intellectual property, and education to enhance economic cooperation among the OTS Member States, among other issues.
The parties also held a series of discussions and signed follow-on agreements related to the Middle Corridor and the need for customs harmonization and other practices to facilitate multi-modal transport of goods. These measures included supporting the information and communications technology implementation of the “Digital Silk Way” project, strengthening and interoperability cooperation among Member States, efforts for a common Turkic language model, and means for promoting people-to-people cooperation.
In the next year, the OTS chairmanship will pass to Kyrgyzstan and the next summit will be in Azerbaijan with an informal summit held in Hungary. Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarovhas framed his chairmanship as focused on economic integration and cooperation on new technology.
The Organization of Turkic States began 15 years ago primarily as a cultural organization, aimed at fostering connections between Türkiye and the Turkic language speaking post-Soviet countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. In recent years, however, the organization has taken on more political, security, and economic importance. Summits and meetings between the leaders of the OTS states are now commonplace, and the last year has seen OTS members establish a common alphabet, sign a declaration in Azerbijan’s long-contested Karabakh region, and focus greater attention on new issues for the group, such as artificial intelligence, governance, and climate change.
The OTS states find themselves in similar geo-political positions. Middle powers, all treading a careful line vis-a-vie Russia that considers this region within its sphere of influence.The OTS states have not spoken too critically of Russia’s war in Ukraine nor cut all ties to Moscow, but neither have any recognized the Kremlin’s territorial claims in Ukraine.
OTS states have also sought to reap the benefits of the geo-strategic shifts since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The most notable instance of this is the building out of the Middle Corridor, a shared project for all OTS members and one all would conceivably be able to benefit from, given their location.
The defense sector is also a growing area of cooperation. OTS members have signed bi-lateral agreements centering one another in their approach to regional security. A 2022 Kazakh-Uzbek agreement, for instance, blocks either country from joining an international group opposing the other, mirroring similar agreements on the books between Azerbaijan and Türkiye.
Türkiye’s large and cutting-edge military-industrial sector has provided a strong incentive for OTS members to foster closer defense ties with Ankara. Most famously, Turkish drones have become a hot commodity throughout the region, with Azerbaijan using them to great effect in the 2020 Karabakh war. Since an agreement in 2023, Turkish drones have been produced in Kazakhstan.
OTS appears to be turning to economic, technological, and energy cooperation as the next area the organization will look to build relations in. President Japarov has laid this out as his vision, and both 2024’s formal and informal OTS summits emphasized these issues. OTS has shown itself to be an effective organizing body and appears to have staying power. Having only grown in importance since its founding, the organization now looks to be one of the defining features of the Caspian region’s political environment for the foreseeable future.
