https://arab.news/ne8td
The leaders of the Organization of Turkic States — Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan — on Tuesday held a summit in Azerbaijan, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on his counterparts to deepen their engagement with the new administration in Damascus.
There were three key takeaways from Erdogan’s speech. First, he called for a unified Organization of Turkic States response to shared security challenges. Second, he stressed the need for members to support the stabilization efforts in Syria by engaging in dialogue with Damascus. Third, he spoke of the importance of closer coordination between the organization and other international alliances. The call to deepen ties with the Syrian government stood out as particularly significant.
During the Syrian war, the Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union drew significant attention when Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, emerged as the primary venue for the peace talks involving Turkiye, Iran and Russia. Just a month before the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime, it hosted the 22nd round of negotiations under the Astana peace process.
Many speculated that the fall of Assad could prompt a change in the Central Asian states’ approach to Syria
