Turkic Council inaugurates office in Budapest

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST (AA) - The Turkic Council inaugurated an office in Budapest on Thursday in a ceremony attended by top diplomats from many Turkic nations.

Speaking at the ceremony, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it is a proud occasion for the community of Turkic speaking nations.

"With in a decade of its establishment, the Turkic Council proved its importance as an effective international organization and this family is growing," Cavusoglu said.

He said fields such as economy, trade, customs, information technologies, logistics, diaspora and education bring together Turkic states.

Also speaking, Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto said his country has always worked for the cooperation of East and West.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Muhtar Tleuberdi, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Chingiz Aidarbekov and Secretary-General of the Turkic Council Baghdad Amreyev also attended the ceremony.

The Turkic Council was established in 2009 as an intergovernmental organization aiming to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states.

Its four founding member states are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, but Hungary obtained an observer status in 2018.

Last week, Cavusoglu also announced that Uzbekistan applied to the Turkic Council for membership and Turkmenistan expressed its intention to be an observer state.

* Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara