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SPEECH by
Director of the Library of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan - Elbasy Temirbolat B. B. at the International Online Conference "Turkestan - the spiritual capital of the Turkic world" following the results of the informal summit of the Turkic Council on March 31, 2021
April 16, 2021 Nur-Sultan
Ladies and gentlemen!
Dear guests and participants of the conference!
The Turkic world has long been the birthplace of unique cultures that have had a great influence on the development of world civilization. We are the direct heirs to this great Turk story.
In the 21st century, the Turkic peoples once again started rapprochement, dialogue and close cooperation.
At the recent summit, the First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, expressed hope that the meeting will give an additional impetus to the further strengthening of friendship and cooperation between the fraternal countries of the Turkic Council.
Dear participants!
The informal summit of the CCTS held on March 31 this year turned out to be informative and rich in important statements and agreements that can lead the Turkic countries' partnership to a new stage of development.
One of the key issues that was discussed at the meeting was the declaration on the recognition of Turkestan as the spiritual capital of the Turkic world.
It is noteworthy that at the meeting of the leaders of our countries, this document was unanimously approved. This event should be attributed to the achievements of modern Turkic cooperation.
11 years ago, we began to recreate our glorious past together in order to understand our present and see new, common horizons of the Turkic future. We will build this future together on the basis of the strategic document "Turkic Vision - 2040".
And there are more than enough reasons for optimism.
First. The Turkic civilization is self-sufficient and has every opportunity to develop further on the basis of cultural identity and common values.
President of Kazakhstan K. K. Tokayev noted at the summit that our goal is to turn the Turkic world into one of the most important economic, cultural and humanitarian regions of the XXI century.
As you know, in culture, achievements are not directly measured by some economic benefit but they also contribute to the convergence of economies. Integration associations in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America are developing on the basis of cultural and value community.
A strong cultural identity has helped us, 175 million Turks, who were settled in various countries and regions, not to get lost in the vortex of history and to develop in the spirit of modern globalization.
The patient work of TURKPA, TURKSOY, the Turkic Academy and the International Foundation for Turkic Culture and Heritage has made the Turkic Council an authoritative organization, and the very concept of the "Turkic world" has become a generally recognized part of the international discourse.
I agree with the statement that someone who does not know his past does not have a future. For this very reason, in the Turkic Council we started with our common roots, the development of cultural communications and are now preparing for the logical expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation.
Second. The Turks are the peoples in which the young population predominates, so the Turkic world is characterized by dynamism and creativity.
If you look at the countries of the CCTS, the median age of the population of our countries is very young. For example, in Azerbaijan - 27 years, in Kazakhstan - 28, in Kyrgyzstan - 27 years, Turkey- 30 years, in Uzbekistan - 28 years.
And, as you know, the median age of 27-30 years is the prime of life, the time of creativity, aspirations and hopes. In this regard, the focus of the CCTS on the consolidation of the Turkic youth is a very promising direction.
Therefore, within the framework of the Turkic Council, a lot of attention is paid to the formation of a common cultural and educational space through cooperation between universities of our countries, internships, academic mobility and research projects.
The predominance of young people in the Turkic-speaking states gives reason to expect their active economic development and an increase in the birth rate.
The world population of Turks is projected to exceed 250 million in the coming years. Forecasts of the demographic growth of the Turkic states and peoples suggest that, in the foreseeable future, the role of Turkic ethnic groups in Eurasian processes will become increasingly visible.
Third. The Turkic world has promising economic opportunities ahead, which must be explored through cooperation.
Similar language, customs, traditions and beliefs allow us to develop not only cultural and humanitarian interaction, but also cooperation in the economy. The total GDP of the countries of the Turkic Council is about $ 1.5 trillion. It is important to consistently build up this significant potential for the benefit of all participants.
One of the main tasks for our countries is to increase trade turnover. And the Turkic states, although without common borders, have great potential for cooperation in trade, investment, transport, energy, tourism, and digitalization.
These directions in the work of the Turkic Council will create the economic base of Turkic cooperation in order to bring regional cooperation to a qualitatively new level.
Fourth. The geography of the Turkic world is our strategic advantage.
This was stated by the First President of Kazakhstan – Elbasy, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Indeed, since its inception, the map of the Great Silk Road has mostly been located within Turkic states.
It was during the heyday of the Turks in Central Eurasia that the Silk Road reached its peak and promoted economic prosperity and cultural uplift on an international scale.
In the 21st century, Turkic-speaking countries are able to play a special role in the development of intracontinental transit transport corridors. Indeed, we are witnessing the expansion and modification of numerous transport links between Asia and Europe.
And in the new century, we have the opportunity to revive the Great Silk Road together. Our states are located in the center of the largest continent, directly connecting West and East, North and South.
Such important transport initiatives as the "One belt, one road", the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, etc. play an important role in the diversification of routes connecting the countries and cities of Eurasia.
We all look forward to deepening trade and economic relations between the CCTS states through the use of our transit potential, which can become the basis for joint economic growth, and once again become a natural bond of Greater Eurasia.
In this regard, it is important to note that the participants of the CCTF seek to establish and strengthen multilateral friendly and partnership relations with key neighboring countries - Russia, China, Iran, European countries and others.
It is very important that the geography of the CCTS is gradually expanding. For example, Hungary, which is getting closer to the Turkic world, is located in the very center of Europe, but does not forget its Turkic history, customs and traditions, and related roots.
And finally, the rise of Asia in the current century contributes to the strengthening of the positions of the Turkic-speaking peoples and the Turkic Council at the international level.
For several years now, we have been witnessing a powerful global shift: for many centuries in world history, there has not been a more grandiose process than the gradual shift of influence from the West to Asia.
Modern Asia is the largest part of the world, both in terms of territory and population. The voice of Asian countries is now becoming increasingly influential in the discussion of the global agenda.
The conventional center of various international activities - business, industrial, and cultural - is rapidly moving to Asia, which also includes the Turkic-speaking countries.
The Asian group now concentrates about 40 per cent of the world's GDP. Never before has there been such a large-scale representation of Asia in the club of the world's leading economies: of the 30 most developed countries, 10 are from Asia, including Turkey, a prominent representative of the Turkic world.
This global trend creates favorable conditions for increasing the activity of the CCTS and jointly achieving a wide range of tasks for the development of the Turkic-speaking countries to ensure the renaissance of the Turkic civilization.
Dear colleagues!
In general, the phenomenon of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic-speaking states is unique. The CCTS has become an effective platform for dialogue between the Turkic peoples and a significant factor in broad regional cooperation.
The modern Turkic world is faced with a choice of very different ways of development – but what is important here is that the main vector for rapprochement is supported by all participants.
Now the Council is approaching a new mature stage in its development. First of all, it is connected with the task of transforming the Council into a full-fledged Organization of the Turkic states.
We thank Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan for supporting Kazakhstan's initiative to raise the level of the Council's work to a full-fledged international organization.
The relevant provision is contained in the Turkestan Declaration. Never before has the Turkic community, widely spread across the largest continent of the planet, been so close to each other.
Dear friends!
The past of the people is a mirror spring, into which each new generation looks and draws the spiritual strength and wisdom of the centuries. It is important for the modern Turkic peoples to be reborn spiritually, and the joint study of history provides such an opportunity.
For the first time in many years, numerous Turkic-speaking peoples are striving for ideological consolidation and are taking real steps towards economic cooperation.
The 21st century has given the Turkic peoples a chance to be closer and they need to take full advantage of it.
I would like to wish all the participants of the conference a successful and fruitful work.
Thank you for your attention.