ANALYSIS: One week after Ankara, the Turkic summit's real test is the Russia question
ANALYSIS: One week after Ankara, the Turkic summit's real test is the Russia question
The 13th summit of the Organization of Turkic States, held in Ankara on October 29-30 under the theme "Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Action", produced a 163-point Ankara Declaration and a new chairmanship for Türkiye. But a week on, the summit is best judged by what survived it, and the answer is mixed.
The institutional wins are real. Uzbek diplomat Mirvokhid Azimov was appointed secretary-general, the first Uzbek to hold the post, and Uzbekistan will host the next summit in 2027. The members agreed to launch their first jointly built satellite, the TDT-SAT CubeSat, from Baikonur in the second half of 2027. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed ID-card travel between the member states, a "Turkic World-100" programme of 100 joint investment and industrial projects, and a dictionary of common Turkic words.
The open wound is Russia. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed bringing Moscow in as an observer or through a new OTS+ format, citing the Turkic peoples living in Russia. The Kremlin says it has received no invitation. A senior figure in Türkiye's ruling party, Kursad Zorlu, has since explained why observer status is not straightforward: the organisation's rules require an observer state to recognise a Turkic language as a state or official language nationwide. OTS+, he added, is a different question, and one the members could consider on strategic grounds.
The other shadow over the summit was the absence of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, who sent his foreign minister instead. Turkish and Israeli press have pointed to a growing rift between Ankara and Baku, including over Azerbaijan's deepening ties with Israel, as the backdrop. Neither side has confirmed that reading, but the absence was noticed by everyone in the room.
The summit moved the bloc from declarations towards institutions: a satellite, a secretary-general, a chairmanship with a work programme. Whether it becomes a wider Eurasian format or stays a Turkic club now depends on the Russia question, and on whether Baku and Ankara repair whatever kept Aliyev away.
What to watch: whether OTS+ gets a formal proposal before the 2027 summit in Uzbekistan, how Baku-Ankara relations develop, and whether ID-card travel moves from proposal to agreement.
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