President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that he will travel to Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Bahrain and Qatar this month.
Speaking at a news conference after a cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said he will visit Samarkand, Uzbekistan for a summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) on Thursday and Friday.
The OTS, formerly called the Turkic Council or the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, is an international organization consisting of prominent independent Turkic countries working together to improve relations and union among themselves.
Turkey has prioritized the sovereignty, stability and well-being of Turkish states in Central Asia since the 1990s, Ambassador Mercan said while addressing the event.
The OTS originally emerged as a summit between the heads of Turkish states in 1991 and eventually became an international council in 2009, which has held over 10 summits so far.
Erdoğan will then go to Bali, Indonesia next Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15-16, for a G20 Leaders’ Summit.
Chinese and US presidents, respectively Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, are also expected to attend a G20 summit in Bali.
After the summit, he will visit the Gulf nation of Bahrain, and on November 20, he will go to his neighbor Qatar, he added.
Last month, Turkey and Qatar discussed 11 new cooperation negotiations in the eighth meeting of the Supreme Strategic Committee in Istanbul.
Turkey and Qatar established the Supreme Strategic Committee in 2014 as a mechanism for high-level dialogue and bilateral cooperation.
Ankara and Doha enjoy strong relations, especially since the 2017 blockade of the Gulf country by Saudi Arabia and others. The two countries have strengthened military and economic ties in recent years. The sixth meeting of the Turkey-Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee was held in 2020 in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Ten agreements were signed between the two countries in the presence of the two leaders. As part of the meetings of the Supreme Strategic Committee, a total of 68 agreements and protocols were signed between the two countries.
Turkish-Qatari relations are also witnessing growing and continuous cooperation at various levels, with high coordination on many regional and international issues, including the Libyan crisis and Afghanistan. In addition to bilateral trade and diplomatic relations, the two countries played a pivotal role in supporting the legitimate Libyan government in Tripoli against the coup d’état Gen. To defend Khalifa Haftar’s forces in a 14-month offensive. They also cooperated in reopening the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Taliban took over following the fall of the government and the withdrawal of US forces.
