Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov says Turkey isn’t pursuing the goal to create the Great Turan.

“Talking about the Great Turan in the historical sense of supranational formation, I don’t think Turkey is pursuing the goal of creating the Great Turan. I don’t see how former Soviet countries and currently independent countries can support the idea in any way,” Lavrov said in an interview with RBC Information Systems.

Lavrov stated that the topic of Turkic-speaking relations has rather deeply penetrated into the cooperation of Turkey and relevant countries, including Azerbaijan and certain countries of Central Asia. The foreign minister recalled that there is a Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, which Russia is also engaged in. “Some of our republics are interested in the contacts. There is an International Organization of Turkic Culture, as well as a Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-Speaking States. All these organizations have been around for quite a long time. Their events are mainly targeted at the preservation of cultural, linguistic and educational traditions,” Lavrov emphasized.

As far as Turkey is concerned, the minister said it has interests to make sure Turkic-speaking people speak the same language and added that Russia would also like for the “Russian world” to have an opportunity to interact.