Turkish president meets Turkic leaders ahead of extraordinary summit

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday met with leaders of Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in the capital Ankara ahead of an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Turkic States on Thursday.

Erdogan held separate closed-door meetings with Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov at the presidential complex.

No further information was released about the meetings.

In Thursday's summit, which will focus on disaster and emergency management, and humanitarian aid, the leaders will elaborate on solid multilateral cooperation and coordination mechanisms as part of the organization in the fight against disasters and hold consultations on current challenges in the region, according to a statement by the organization.

The Organization of Turkic States, formerly called the Turkic Council, is an international organization comprising prominent independent Turkic countries that work together to elevate relations and the union among themselves.

Its members are Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. EU member country Hungary, Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have observer status.