Turkic States establish the Geographical Council in Central Asia

The Agreement on the establishment of the Geographical Council of Turkic States (GCTS) which included the geographical communities of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Hungary was signed in Tashkent, Turanews.kz reports citing the Press service of Kazakhstan Republican public association  QazaqGeography.

“The main goal of the initiative to create the GCTS is to further deepen comprehensive cooperation between Turkic-speaking research institutes and public associations, as well as to make a joint contribution to the study and preservation of the historical and cultural heritage (material and intangible) of the Turkic peoples, the implementation of the environmental agenda (Achieving carbon neutrality by 2060) and in general, such a council has a potential to become a platform (for non-governmental organizations) for public diplomacy,” the message says.

The headquarter of the Geographical Council will be located in the capital of Uzbekistan – Tashkent. The Head of the Geographical Society of the Republic of Uzbekistan Oybek Norinbaev was elected as General Secretary of the Council for a period of three years.

It is planned that the newly created Geographical Council will deal with cross-country projects, including expanding cooperation in the field of science, education, environmental education and thrifty attitude, culture and tourism, developing common scientific positions on issues of Turkic history, ensuring the environmental agenda and achieving carbon neutrality.

The initiator of the creation of the Geographical Council was the Kazakhstan Republican public association “QazaqGeography”.

“We believe in the future potential of the Geographical Council of the Turkic States and have high hopes for joint work and its result. In turn, Kazakhstan is ready to share its accumulated experience to achieve both regional and global goals,” the Chairman of the Board of the NGO QazaqGeography Orman Nurbayev said.

Thanking for the Kazakh side for the initiative, the Representative of the Geographical Society of Türkiye Kaan Kapan, “I am very grateful to QazaqGeography for the offer to bring together the geographical societies of the Turkic states and I am glad that today we are signing this agreement and opening a great road to the future,” he stressed.