A red and white trail of fighter jets over Astana marked the beginning of a two-day diplomatic focus on Turkic relations. The display accompanied the state visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 14.
The following day, both Erdogan and Tokayev travelled separately to the southern city of Turkistan. Together with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Northern Cyprus, they gathered for an informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Held back-to-back, Erdogan’s state visit and the OTS summit carried overlapping themes, including humanitarian aid, trade, and cultural cooperation. Yet a key difference emerged: discussions on joint weapons manufacturing, agreed during the bilateral visit on May 14, were notably absent from the following day’s summit. For Tokayev, this was a topic to avoid in the broader multilateral setting.
While some OTS members advocate for deeper military cooperation, the Kazakh president has consistently pushed back against such ambitions. This leaves the scope of collaboration within the organization somewhat undefined, particularly on security-related issues.
Following a ceremonial welcome for Erdogan in Astana, the two presidents entered negotiations focused on expanding bilateral trade, with emphasis on agriculture, digitalization, logistics, and defense industry cooperation. Tokayev announced Kazakhstan’s readiness to increase exports to Turkiye by more than $630 million.
