In a historic event, the national trade union centers of four Turkic states — Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan — signed an agreement on July 29 to create the Organization of Trade Unions of Turkic Countries. The agreement was signed in Shusha, the cultural capital of Azerbaijan, Turanews.kz reports.
The new organization will have the goal of consolidating actions to protect the social, labor, professional, economic rights and interests of employees. It will also aim to increase the potential for cooperation and open up new opportunities in protecting the rights of workers to decent work, decent life, and social justice.
Kyrgyzstan will participate in the organization in the status of an observer.
The signing ceremony was attended by the heads of the national trade union centers of the five countries. In their speeches, they emphasized the importance of creating a trade union organization at the level of the Turkic states for the well-being and prosperity of workers.
Sattar Mehbaliyev, Chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan, said that the creation of the new organization is a landmark event in the life of the trade union movement in each of the countries. He noted that the symbolism of its holding in Shusha closely echoes the trend of strengthening trade union solidarity.
Satybaldy Dauletalin, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said that the Turkic countries have not only common interests, but also a common centuries-old history. He added that over the past thirty years, cooperation between the Turkic-speaking states has been successfully developing, which have advanced this mechanism from an intergovernmental organization (Turkic Council) to a regional international organization (OTG).
Ergun Atalay, President of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions “Türk-İş”, said that he is confident that the signing of the agreement and its subsequent implementation will lead to a new round of development of trade union relations, protection of workers’ rights, and interaction of trade union organizations of the Turkic states.
Bakhtiyor Makhmadaliyev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, stressed that the creation of an organization of trade unions of the Turkic states will allow not only to more effectively protect the interests of workers, but also to represent the common interests of the trade unions of our countries at the international level.
The signing of the agreement is a significant step in the development of trade union cooperation between the Turkic states. It is expected that the new organization will play an important role in protecting the rights of workers and promoting social justice in the region.
