The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara, proposed to include Russia in this association.

“It would be a correct and fair decision to positively treat Russia’s intention and offer it to join this format, or participate in the activities of the OTS as an observer,” Tokayev said.

In his opinion, this would significantly increase the standing of this association.

The OTS was created in 2009 for the purpose of cooperation between countries with common Turkic roots. Today, it includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan, Hungary, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus—which is recognized only by Turkey—have observer status.

Among other initiatives, the OTS is pushing for a unified Latin-based Turkic alphabet, including for Turkic languages using the Cyrillic script. In addition, in 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev proposed holding joint military exercises among the Organization of Turkic States’ member countries, which has raised concerns among Russian pro-government commentators.