International Organization of Turkic Culture

Uluslararası Türk Kültürü Teşkilatı (TÜRKSOY)
International Organization of Turkic Culture
Sovereign (maroon) and other members (red) of TÜRKSOY.
Sovereign (maroon) and other members (red) of TÜRKSOY.
HeadquartersTurkey Ankara, Turkey
Official language Turkish
Members[1]
  • 6 sovereign member states
  • 8 non-sovereign observer states
Leaders
 -  General Secretary Dusen Kaseinov
Establishment 1993
Website
http://www.turksoy.org.tr

The International Organization of Turkic Culture (Turkish: Uluslararası Türk Kültürü Teşkilatı, TÜRKSOY) is an international cultural organization of countries with Turkic populations, speaking languages belonging to the Turkic language family. Other than being an abbreviation of the former official name "Türk Kültür ve Sanatları Ortak Yönetimi" - Joint Administration of Turkic Culture and Arts, "Türksoy" is a compound noun, in Turkish, made up of the words "Türk" (Turk/ish) and "soy" (ancestry).

The General Secretary of TÜRKSOY is Duisen Kaseinov, former Minister of Culture of Kazakhstan. TÜRKSOY has its headquarters in Ankara, Turkey.

History

The organization has its roots in meetings during 1992 in Baku and Istanbul, where the ministers of culture from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan declared their commitment to cooperate in a joint cultural framework. TÜRKSOY was subsequently established by an agreement signed on July 12, 1993 in Almaty.

In 1996, an official cooperation between TÜRKSOY and UNESCO was established, involving mutual consultations and reciprocal representation.[2]

It is announced that TÜRKSOY will be integrated into the newly founded Turkic Council, a geopolitical organization of Turkic countries established on November 3, 2009.

Members

As of 2013, TÜRKSOY has six sovereign member states and eight non-sovereign observer states.[1]

Country Language Notes
 Altai Republic  Russia Altay Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Azerbaijan Azerbaijani
 Bashkortostan  Russia Bashkir Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Găgăuzia  Moldova Gagauz Observer state; an autonomous region of Moldova.
 Kazakhstan Kazakh
 Khakassia  Russia Khakas Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz
 Northern Cyprus Turkish Observer state; a de facto independent republic recognized only by Turkey; see Cyprus dispute.
 Sakha Republic  Russia Sakha (Yakut) Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Tatarstan  Russia Tatar Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Turkey Turkish
 Turkmenistan Turkmen
 Tuva  Russia Tuvan Observer state; a federal subject of Russia.
 Uzbekistan Uzbek

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 TURKSOY Official Web Site (2009). "Homepage > TÜRKSOY > Member States". Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  2. ↑ UNESCO Web Site (1996). "Relations with the Joint Administration of the Turkic Culture and Arts (TÜRKSOY), and Draft Agreement between that Organization and UNESCO" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-12-04.

External links