BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. NGOs from eight countries, all part of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and holding observer status, gathered under one roof for a forum on collaborative climate initiatives during COP29 in the Green Zone, TurkicWorld reports.
The forum saw a gathering of representatives from civil society institutions hailing from Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and Turkmenistan.
The Turkic Countries Climate Initiatives Forum on Human Capital was organized by the State Support Agency for Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan National Forum of NGOs.
The member of the COP29 Organizing Committee, Executive Director of the Agency for State Support of NGOs Aygun Aliyeva, noted that for the first time, NGOs of Turkic states started to organize at this level to achieve a common goal.
MPs Ramil Hasan and Gulshan Pashayeva emphasized the importance of joint activities.
Chairperson of the Committee on Civil Society Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan Gulbara Sultanova noted the importance of Azerbaijan's successful accession to COP29 for the entire Turkic world, calling the expansion of cooperation in this process and within NGOs an important event.
The chairman of the board of the National Association of Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organizations of the Republic of Uzbekistan Kamoliddin Ishanhokayev stated that the II Forum of Cooperation between Uzbek-Azerbaijani NGOs will be held in December this year, and this is another manifestation of deepening ties.
The forum then continued with panel discussions.
The first panel "Climate Change and Human Capital: the Role of civil society institutions of Turkic States" moderated by Agil Jamal, Chairman of the Public Association "Common Values", Latif Akça, responsible representative of the Administration of the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on work with NGOs, Mustafa Janer, representative of the Center for Political, Economic and Social Research of Türkiye (SETA); and Mustafa Jahner, Chairman of the Association of Women and Girls of Uzbekistan Nasiba Miradilova, ecologist from Uzbekistan Bunyod Abdullayev, spoke at the first panel "Climate change and human capital: the role of civil society institutions of Turkic states".
The second panel, "The Role of Civil Society in Involving Youth in Climate Issues in the Turkic States," featured various presentations by Sümeyye Ceylan, Deputy Chairperson of the Turkish Yesilay Society, Elnura Isabekova, founder of the "Civic Ideas Foundation," implementing the project of the Youth Parliament of Kyrgyzstan, David Biro, member of the Hungarian representation of the Organization of Turkic States, Shirin Abidova, Head of the Volunteers Union of Uzbekistan.
To wrap it all up, the representatives of the Turkic states tipped their hats to Azerbaijan for pulling off a COP event for the first time in the Turkic world, expressing their pride in this remarkable achievement. It was observed that in the blink of an eye, the top-notch organizational efforts have turned into yet another feather in the cap of the Azerbaijani state.
The Organization of Turkic States (OTS), previously known as the Turkic Council or the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, is an intergovernmental entity that includes all but one of the internationally recognized Turkic sovereign nations. The primary objective is to foster extensive collaboration among the Turkic nations. The General Secretariat of OTS is situated in Istanbul, Türkiye.
