# International Organization of Turkic Culture

The International Organization of Turkic Culture or TÜRKSOY is an international cultural organization of countries with Turkic populations, speaking languages belonging to the Turkic language family.
The General Secretary of Türksoy is Sultan Raev, the former Minister of Culture of Kyrgyzstan and deputy General Secretary of Organization of Turkic States. Türksoy has its headquarters in Ankara, Turkey.

## Name

TÜRKSOY was initially established as the Common Administration of Turkic Culture and Arts (Turkish: Türk Kültür ve Sanatları Ortak Yönetimi), and was later on renamed as International Organization of Turkic Culture. Its acronym nevertheless remained the same.

## 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 12 July 1993 in Almaty.
In 1996, an official cooperation between Türksoy and UNESCO was established, involving mutual consultations and reciprocal representation.
Since its establishment, the Turkic Council has acted as an umbrella organization for Türksoy and a number of related organizations.

## Member and observer states

As of 2022, Türksoy has six founding and 8 observer members.

### Members

| Member state | Official language(s) | Accession date | Area (km²) | Demographics |
| Azerbaijan | Azerbaijani | 1993 | 86,600 | 91% Azerbaijanis, 3% Lezgins, 2% Russians, 1,5% Armenians, and others |
| Kazakhstan | Kazakh, Russian | 1993 | 2,724,900 | 64% Kazakhs, 24% Russians, and others |
| Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz, Russian | 1993 | 199,951 | 77% Kyrgyz, 15% Uzbeks, 5% Russians, and others |
| Turkey | Turkish | 1993 | 783,562 | 70–75% Turks, 19% Kurds and 6–11% others |
| Turkmenistan | Turkmen | 1993 | 488,100 | 85% Turkmens, 5% Uzbeks, 4% Russians, and others |
| Uzbekistan | Uzbek | 1993 | 448,924 | 80% Uzbeks, 5% Russians, 5% Tajiks, and others |

### Observers

| Observer state | Official language(s) | Accession date | Area (km²) | Demographics |
| Bashkortostan (Russian Federation) | Bashkir, Russian | 1993 | 143,600 | 29% Bashkirs, 36% Russians, 24% Tatars, and others |
| Northern Cyprus (de facto) | Turkish | 1993 | 3,335 | 98% Turks, 0,5% Greeks, and others |
| Tatarstan (Russian Federation) | Tatar, Russian | 1993 | 67,836 | 52% Tatars, 39% Russians, and others |
| Khakassia (Russian Federation) | Khakas, Russian | 1996 | 61,900 | 13% Khakas, 79% Russians, and others |
| Tuva (Russian Federation) | Tuvan, Russian | 1996 | 170,500 | 64% Tuvans, 32% Russians, and others |
| Găgăuzia (Moldova) | Gagauz, Romanian, Russian | 1999 | 1,832 | 82% Gagauz, 7,8% Moldovans, 4,9% Bulgarians, and others |
| Altai (Russian Federation) | Altay, Russian | 2003 | 206,168 | 31% Altaians, 61,4% Russians, Kazakhs and others |
| Yakutia (Russian Federation) | Yakut, Russian | 2003 | 3,062,100 | 40% Yakuts, 60% Russians, Tatars and others |

## Activities

Since its establishment, Türksoy has been "carrying out activities to strengthen the ties of brotherhood and solidarity among Turkic peoples, transmit the common Turkic culture to future generations and introduce it to the world."
Activities and events include:
* Gatherings of artists, photographers, painters, opera singers, poets, journalists, theatre, dance and music ensembles of the Turkic World
* Monthly journal published in three languages
* Publishing works written in various Turkic languages and dialects
* Commemoration of artists, authors, poets and scholars in recognition of their valuable contribution to Turkic culture
* Symposia and conferences covering topics on the common history, language, culture and art of Turkic peoples
* Nevruz Day celebrations including concerts and events held in the UNESCO Headquarters in 2010, the United Nations General Assembly Hall in 2011, and various other countries including Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom.

### Cultural Capital of the Turkic World

Every year, Türksoy selects one city in the Turkic world to be the "Cultural Capital of the Turkic World". The chosen city hosts a number of events to celebrate Turkic culture.
The cities that have been awarded this title are:
* 2012: Astana, Kazakhstan
* 2013: Eskişehir, Turkey
* 2014: Kazan, Tatarstan
* 2015: Merv, Turkmenistan
* 2016: Shaki, Azerbaijan
* 2017: Turkistan, Kazakhstan
* 2018: Kastamonu, Turkey
* 2019: Osh, Kyrgyzstan
* 2020: Khiva, Uzbekistan
* 2022: Bursa, Turkey
* 2023: Shusha, Azerbaijan
* 2024: Anau, Turkmenistan
* 2025: Aktau, Kazakhstan

### Commemorative years

Since 2010, Türksoy has selected at least one figure from Turkic culture every year to dedicate their activities to.
| Year | Person | Description |
| 2010 | Zeki Velidi Togan | Bashkir historian, 120th anniversary of his birth |
| 2011 | Ğabdulla Tuqay | Tatar poet, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2012 | Nikolai Katanov | Khakas Turkologist, 150th anniversary of his birth |
| 2012 | Mirza Fatali Akhundov | Azerbaijani writer, 200th anniversary of his birth |
| 2013 | Mukan Tulebaev [tr] | Kazakh musician, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2014 | Magtymguly Pyragy | Turkmen poet |
| 2014 | Toktogul Satylganov | Kyrgyz poet |
| 2015 | Haldun Taner | Turkish writer, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2015 | Semyon Kadyshev | Khakas dastan writer, 130th anniversary of his birth |
| 2016 | Yūsuf Balasaguni | Turkic philosopher and poet, 1000th anniversary of his birth |
| 2017 | Molla Panah Vagif | Azerbaijani poet, 300th anniversary of his birth |
| 2018 | Gara Garayev | Azerbaijani composer, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2018 | Magzhan Zhumabayev | Kazakh poet, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2018 | Chinghiz Aitmatov | Kyrgyz writer, 90th anniversary of his birth |
| 2019 | Imadaddin Nasimi | Azerbaijani poet, 650th anniversary of his birth |
| 2019 | Âşık Veysel | Turkish folk singer, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2020 | Abai Qunanbaiuly | Kazakh poet and intellectual, 175th anniversary of his birth |
| 2021 | Yunus Emre | Turkish sufi and poet, 700th anniversary of his death |
| 2021 | Nizami Ganjavi | Persian poet, 880th anniversary of his birth |
| 2022 | Toktobolot Abdumomunov [ru] | Kyrgyz writer, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2022 | Fikret Amirov | Azerbaijani composer, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2022 | Süleyman Çelebi | Turkish sufi, 600th anniversary of his death |
| 2023 | Temirbek Jürgenov [az] | Kazakh poet, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2023 | Baken Kydykeyeva | Kyrgyz actress, 100th anniversary of her birth |
| 2023 | Mehmet Akif Ersoy | Turkish poet, 150th anniversary of his birth |
| 2023 | Al-Biruni | Persian scientist born in modern-day Uzbekistan, 1050th anniversary of his birth |
| 2023 | İsmet Güney | Northern Cypriot painter, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2024 | Magtymguly Pyragy | Turkmen poet and philosopher, 300th anniversary of his birth (2nd commemoration) |
| 2025 | Bakhtiyar Vahabzadeh | Azerbaijani poet, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2025 | Nurgisa Atabayoğlu Tilendiyev [kk] | Kazakh conductor and composer, 100th anniversary of his birth |
| 2025 | Atai Ogonbaev [ky] | Kyrgyz composer, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2025 | Münir Nurettin Selçuk | Turkish composer, 125th anniversary of his birth |
| 2025 | Aşık Kenzi | Northern Cypriot folk singer, 230th anniversary of his birth |

## Funding

Türksoy is funded by contributions paid by individual member states, local governments, universities and NGOs.

## Related organizations

The Organization of Turkic States, the Turkic Academy and the Foundation of Turkic Culture and Heritage are organizations which TÜRKSOY works in coordination with. TÜRKSOY also carries out cooperation activities with the UNESCO, the ISESCO and the International Foundation for the Humanitarian Cooperation (IFESCCO) of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
As part of the XV International Tashkent Film Festival "Pearl of the Silk Road", the "World Turkic Filmmakers Forum" was held, at which it was decided to create the Union of Cinematographers of the Turkic World. The head of the Cinematography Agency of the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan, Firdavs Abdukhalikov, was elected the chairman of the organization.

## List of secretaries-general

| No. | Name | Country of origin | Took office | Left office |
| 1 | Polad Bülbüloğlu | Azerbaijan | 1994 | 2008 |
| 2 | Düsen Kaseinov (tr) | Kazakhstan | 29 May 2008 | 31 March 2022 |
| 3 | Sultan Raev (tr) | Kyrgyzstan | 31 March 2022 | incumbent |

## Leaders of member states

* Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev President of Azerbaijan
* Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev President of Kazakhstan
* Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov President of Kyrgyzstan
* Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan President of Turkey
* Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow President of Turkmenistan
* Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev President of Uzbekistan