Report: 13th OTS Summit, and Ankara Declaration

nCa Report

On 30 October 2026 the Organization of Turkic States signed a 163-point Ankara Declaration, appointed an Uzbek Secretary-General and passed its rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan to Türkiye.

Summit at a glance

Leaders met in Ankara on 30 October 2026, one day after the foreign ministers, as Türkiye marked the 103rd anniversary of the Republic.

Item	Detail
Event	13th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS)
Dates	29 October (Council of Foreign Ministers, hosted by Hakan Fidan); 30 October (leaders’ summit)
Venue	Presidential Complex, Beştepe, Ankara
Theme	“Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Deed”, a motto linked to the Turkic thinker Ismail Gaspirali
Chair	President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Chairmanship	Türkiye took over the term presidency from Azerbaijan and holds it until the next summit
Secretary-General	Mirvokhid Azimov (Uzbekistan) succeeds Kubanychbek Omuraliev (Kyrgyzstan); it is the first time Uzbekistan heads the Secretariat
Outcome	Ankara Declaration of 163 points, signed in Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and Uzbek
Next meetings	14th summit in Uzbekistan in 2027; informal summit in Kyrgyzstan in 2027

Participants

Four of the five member states sent their presidents; Azerbaijan sent its foreign minister.

Delegation	Status	Represented by
Türkiye	Member, host and new chair	President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Kazakhstan	Member	President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Uzbekistan	Member	President Shavkat Mirziyoyev
Kyrgyzstan	Member	President Sadyr Japarov
Azerbaijan	Member, outgoing chair	Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
Turkmenistan	Observer	President Serdar Berdimuhamedov
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)	Observer	President Tufan Erhürman
Hungary	Observer	Level of attendance not stated in the reports reviewed
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO)	Observer	Level of attendance not stated in the reports reviewed
OTS Secretariat	Institution	Secretary-General Kubanychbek Omuraliev (outgoing); Mirvokhid Azimov (incoming)

Leaders’ statements

The speeches combined Erdoğan’s unity message with Central Asian emphasis on trade, transit and keeping the OTS out of military alliances. Remarks below are summarized from published reports, not from full speech texts.

Erdoğan (Türkiye). Announced that the coming period would be called the Turkic Century and described the Middle Corridor as a strategic route shaping future trade. He said there was no place for division or discord in the Turkic family, thanked Azerbaijan for its chairmanship and backed Baku’s contacts with Armenia toward lasting peace. He reaffirmed support for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as capital, hoped renewed tension with Iran would be channeled into diplomacy, raised wider OTS contact with the TRNC, and called for a Great Turkic Language Model.
Bayramov (Azerbaijan). Spoke for Azerbaijan as outgoing chair. Azerbaijani and Turkish outlets reported a call for stronger trade and transport ties among Turkic states.
Tokayev (Kazakhstan). Proposed inviting Russia to cooperate through the OTS+ format or as an observer, while repeating that the OTS must not become a military alliance. He said Kazakhstan’s trade with OTS countries approached $10 billion, up 40% on the previous year, and rail freight with them reached nearly 40 million tonnes. He urged faster adoption of the 2027–2031 Strategy, fuller use of the Turkic Investment Fund and early adoption of a Convention on the Preservation of the Heritage of Turkic Civilization, and offered Kazakhstan’s AI expertise. Russia has made no public announcement of interest in the OTS.
Mirziyoyev (Uzbekistan). Supported declaring 2027 the Year of Nature Protection, an idea he first raised at the May 2026 informal summit in Turkistan. He proposed a Dictionary of Common Turkic Words, a “Turkic World – 100” programme of 100 strategic investment and industrial projects, and a multilateral agreement easing travel, including ID-card border crossing. He thanked members for backing Azimov and offered to host the 2027 summit.
Berdimuhamedov (Turkmenistan, observer). Called for wider economic cooperation in energy, transport, communications, industry, agriculture, construction, textiles and raw-materials processing, and for closer OTS–UN ties. He urged more capacity on the Trans-Caspian corridor and offered Turkmenbashi port infrastructure. He also met Erdoğan one-on-one on the sidelines. (The full text of the speech of President Berdimuhamedov is included in a separate report on his participation in the summit)
Japarov (Kyrgyzstan). Addressed the summit; the reports reviewed do not give the content of his remarks.

The Ankara Declaration

The 163-point declaration mostly welcomes, encourages and urges; where it commits to a new body or service, it says “examine” or “accelerate”. This summary is built from press coverage of the declaration, grouped by theme. Official article numbers are not cited because the full text was not available for review at the time of publication of this report.

Theme	Provisions reported
Principles and institutions	Reaffirms sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, inviolability of international borders and non-interference. Welcomes progress on the draft Treaty on Strategic Partnership, Eternal Friendship and Brotherhood. Continues work on permanent representations to the OTS and diplomatic steps toward observer status at the UN General Assembly and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Gaza	Calls for full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2803 (17 November 2025) and the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict; stresses a two-state solution on the 1967 borders.
Cyprus	Supports the equal rights of Turkish Cypriots, described as an integral part of the Turkic world, and a negotiated, mutually acceptable and sustainable settlement based on the realities on the island.
Syria and Afghanistan	Supports Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and reconstruction. On Afghanistan, encourages cooperation through the OTS Afghanistan Working Group and notes close attention to the humanitarian situation.
Security and cyber	Continues joint action against terrorism, separatism, extremism, drug and arms trafficking and transnational organized crime. Considers an OTS Defense Industry College programme hosted by Türkiye, following a defense-industry roadmap adopted in Baku on 1 October. Encourages progress toward a council to combat crime, a cybersecurity memorandum of understanding and an OTS Cybersecurity Council. Commits to counter racism, discrimination, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hate speech and disinformation.
Transport and travel	Strengthens the Trans-Caspian East-West Middle Corridor; supports full-capacity use of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, the Zangezur Corridor and the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway; notes the Trans-Afghan railway. Invites other members to join the Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan Middle Corridor Cooperation Agreement of 15 October 2026. Encourages an OTS Transport Corridors Strategy, fewer border bureaucracies and wider use of the e-CMR electronic consignment note. Will examine dedicated passenger lanes for OTS citizens at airports.
Energy	Highlights the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the Southern Gas Corridor, the Central Asia-Azerbaijan Green Energy Corridor and Caspian-Black Sea-Europe energy lines; adds critical minerals, energy efficiency and peaceful nuclear energy.
Trade and technology	Backs the Turkic Investment Fund, simpler customs and digital trade. Welcomes completion of production of the 12U OTS-SAT CubeSat and urges launch preparations. Encourages cooperation on artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and the Digital Silk Road.
Culture and education	Welcomes the Turkic Academy’s work on a Common Turkic Alphabet, Common History and Common Terminology; backs a Turkic World Higher Education Area, scholarships, tourism and diaspora links, and cooperation among Muslim religious councils.

On Gaza, Resolution 2803 endorsed the Comprehensive Plan and authorized a Board of Peace and a temporary International Stabilization Force; it passed with 13 votes in favour and abstentions from China and Russia.

Decisions and next steps

The firm decisions were institutional; most substantive projects were advanced rather than concluded.

Decided

Türkiye holds the term presidency until the next summit.
Mirvokhid Azimov of Uzbekistan was appointed Secretary-General; Kubanychbek Omuraliev was thanked for his service.
The 14th summit will be held in Uzbekistan in 2027, with an informal summit in Kyrgyzstan the same year.
The summit welcomed Uzbekistan’s initiative to mark 2027 as the Year of Nature Protection.

Advanced but not concluded

The Treaty on Strategic Partnership, Eternal Friendship and Brotherhood remains a draft.
The Defense Industry College, Council to combat crime and Cybersecurity Council are at the stage of consideration or consultation.
Dedicated airport passenger lanes for OTS citizens are to be examined, not introduced.
The OTS Transport Corridors Strategy is to be prepared, and Tokayev asked for faster adoption of the 2027–2031 Strategy.

Announced but not confirmed in the declaration coverage

Treating athletes from member states as domestic players in each other’s football leagues. A senior AK Party official described this as planned before the summit; none of the declaration coverage reviewed confirms it as a provision.
Any response to Tokayev’s proposal on Russia. No decision was reported.

Sources

/// nCa, 31 October 2026 (picture credit AA)