Speech of the National Leader of the Turkmen People at the 16th Meeting of the Council of Elders of the OTS in Budapest

02.12.2024

On November 29, the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, made a working visit to Hungary to participate in the 16th meeting of the Council of Elders of the OTS as a member of this structure, as well as an honorary guest at the invitation of the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States, Binali Yıldırım. The text of the speech is published today by the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan". "Dear members of the Council and participants of the meeting! I would like to thank the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States, Binali Yıldırım, and the member of the Council, Atilla Tilki, for their hospitality, warm welcome, and excellent working conditions. I would like to note the significant contribution of the Chairman of the Council, Binali Yıldırım, to enhancing the prestige of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States. Today we are meeting based on the instructions of the leaders of our countries, and our task is also to discuss general political, trade-economic, and cultural-humanitarian issues. The heads of state of the Turkic-speaking countries always come up with important initiatives. Based on this, we must jointly promote public diplomacy. The basis of this diplomacy is the principles of prosperity, peace, mutual respect, and good neighborliness. Most importantly, we must promote the philosophy of peace and implement this policy promoted by the leaders of our countries. As you know, Turkmenistan is a country rich in hydrocarbon resources. We will continue to diversify our cooperation in this area. In order to successfully solve the tasks before us for further development of the partnership, I consider it advisable for us, as members of the Council, to make specific proposals to the heads of our states and implement them. We have untapped potential in the trade-economic sphere. Members of the Council should play an important role in realizing these opportunities. As for cultural-humanitarian cooperation, the literary heritage of our writers and poets, national song and music art unite us. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all members of the Council and our brothers for cooperation in this area. As you know, the 15th meeting of the Council of Elders took place in March this year in Ashgabat. It coincided with the month of Ramadan, and we all had a meal together. Indeed, as you can see, we are summarizing the year with good results. Dear members of the Council! With your blessing, we celebrated the 300th anniversary of the birth of Magtymguly Pyragy. With your support, this year was proclaimed "The Year of the Great Poet and Thinker of the Turkic World - Magtymguly Pyragy," and the city of Anau was declared "The Cultural Capital of the Turkic World." If we turn to history, the city of Anau was one of the developed cities located along the Great Silk Road. On the occasion of these significant events, a number of high-level international events were held with the participation of Turkic states. I thank you for this. We must continue this partnership. Dear members of the Council! At the initiative of President Arkadagly Hero Serdar, the year 2025 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the "International Year of Peace and Trust." The countries of the Turkic world were among the first to support this initiative. Also, at the initiative of Turkmenistan, the Resolution "Central Asia - a Zone of Peace, Trust, and Cooperation" was adopted. Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of Turkmenistan's permanent neutrality by the Community of Nations. The meeting of the Council of Elders of the Organization of Turkic States is held twice a year. In our country, holidays follow one another. If you support it, I propose to hold the last meeting of the Council next year in Ashgabat, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the country's neutrality. This will be a sign of respect for Turkmenistan. In our country, people who have reached the age of the Prophet Muhammad - 63 years - are called "honorary elders." There is a proposal that in the future it would be good to rename our council to the "Council of Elders." Considering this, I consider it advisable to create an award and a sign of the Council "Honorary Elder." At the same time, I would like to note the effective work of the Chairman of the Council, Binali Yıldırım. I believe that it would be advisable to recognize our Council as an organization of international level. I consider it an important task to pass on modern civilization to the younger generation. In this regard, I propose to create a newspaper or magazine and a website of our Council. Here I would like to mention the newspaper "Zaman." We started publishing this newspaper in Turkmenistan from the first years of independence with our Turkish brothers. The newspaper is still published in our country. In my speech, I mentioned the poet and philosopher Magtymguly Pyragy. Recently, we built a cultural park complex named after him. The park also features sculptures of writers and poets of the Turkic world. I would like to note that among them are sculptures of Yunus Emre - a master of the artistic word of the Turkish people, Uzbek poet Alisher Navoi, Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, national poet of the Hungarian people Sandor Petofi. Also in Ashgabat, there is a sculpture of the philosopher and poet of the Kazakh people Abai Kunanbayev. This is a symbol of friendship and brotherhood between our peoples. Speaking about the issue of the alphabet of the Turkic-speaking countries, as you know, in Turkmenistan, from the first year of independence, the current alphabet has been used in administrative, working, and everyday life and based on this in the state language. In conclusion, I would like to assure you that Turkmenistan will always support the initiatives put forward by the Organization of Turkic States and its Council of Elders, the International Organization of Turkic Culture. I wish you further success in all your endeavors.