The heads of institutions responsible for the diaspora of the Organization of Turkish States meet in Baku
President of the Republic of Turkey Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) Abdullah Eren, Chairman of the Committee on International Relations and Friendly Relations with Foreign Countries under the Council of Ministers of Uzbekistan Rustam Kurbanov, State Language and Language of the Presidency of Kyrgyzstan, Head of the National Commission on Policy Kanibek Osmonaliev attended the meeting.
TDT Deputy Secretary General Yercan Mukaş, Kazakhstan Otandastar Foundation President's International Relations Advisor Kalıbek Koblandin, Hungarian State Secretary for National Policies Arpad Janos Potapi and TRNC Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kemal Köprülü also attended the forum.
In his speech at the event, Chairman of the Azerbaijani State Committee for Diaspora Muradov said that as Azerbaijan, they have always contributed to the unity of the Turkic world and that they will continue in this direction from now on.
Emphasizing that the Turkish world has a population of 200 million and a great potential, “We must show solidarity by considering each other's national interests. Our diasporas should act together like a single punch and know how to hit a single target when necessary.” Muradov said.
Muradov stated that Turks live outside the Turkish world and that the member countries of the TDT should also focus on this issue and said, “We should strengthen cooperation for our cognates living in other countries. Education in the mother tongue should always be on the agenda of Turkish states. More than 40 million Azerbaijanis living outside Azerbaijan are deprived of this right.” he said.
“Racism, xenophobia and anti-Muslimism appear as common agendas”
YTB President Eren said that the institution he headed represents Turkey in the diaspora working group of Turkish states.
Eren gave information about the activities of YTB and noted that they carried out experience sharing programs for their interlocutors in the countries where the Turkish diaspora is located, and they encouraged the integration of their cognates living in different countries.
Stating that both the diaspora of Turkey and the Turkish world face various problems both in the countries they live in and from time to time in their homeland as a result of their distance and being in a minority, Eren said. He set an example by mentioning the names of some people in the Turkish diaspora who achieved various successes.
Eren, reminding that the Turkish diaspora also faced various attacks in some cases besides the success stories, said, “Even though the issues on the agenda of the Turkish diaspora differ from country to country, racism, xenophobia and especially anti-Muslim agendas appear as common agendas. As YTB, we report the attacks on our citizens every year and make them available to the relevant countries and international institutions.”
“We want to strengthen the cooperation between diasporas”
Eren made the following statements to the press after the meeting:
“We saw how important the cooperation of the Turkish world diaspora is in the 44-day war. Diaspora institutions of Azerbaijan and Turkey worked very closely abroad. The Azerbaijan State Committee for Diaspora fought against disinformation and we supported them as much as we could. We always say 'two states, one nation' and 'one nation cannot have two diasporas'. With this slogan, we want to strengthen the cooperation between the diasporas by including other TDT member countries.”
At the forum, the 2023 joint action plan and operational strategy of the institutions responsible for TDT diaspora affairs were discussed.
Memorandum of understanding between YTB and Azerbaijan State Committee for Diaspora was renewed
Within the scope of the event, the expanded version of the memorandum of understanding signed between YTB and the Azerbaijan State Committee for Diaspora was re-signed. Eren and Muradov signed the memorandum of understanding.
