Turkish president travels to Hungary to attend Organization of Turkic States summit

By Zafer Fatih Beyaz and Zehra Nur Celik

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday departed for Budapest, the capital of Hungary to attend the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).

Erdogan is expected to attend the meeting of the OTS Council of the Heads of State on the margins of the summit and to hold bilateral contacts with the participating heads of state and government.

As part of the summit, which will be held under the theme "Meeting point of East and West," ongoing efforts to strengthen the institutional structure of the OTS will be reviewed and the adoption of various documents and decisions, including the Budapest Declaration, is expected, Türkiye's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said on X on Tuesday.

Accompanying Erdogan on the trip were Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan, Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, and Akif Cagatay Kilic, chief presidential adviser on foreign policy and security.

The informal summit of the heads of state of the OTS is scheduled to be held on May 20-21, 2025, in the Hungarian capital Budapest.

Türkiye, alongside Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, is a member state of the OTS, while Hungary, alongside Turkmenistan and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, is an observer state of the organization.