Turkish President Erdogan heads to Kazakhstan for summit

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday departed for Kazakhstan's capital Astana to attend the 10th leaders' summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).

Erdogan will address a session of the summit, which will be held under the theme of Turk Era, on Friday.

During the meeting, the leaders will discuss efforts to further enhance cooperation within the organization and exchange views on current global and regional issues.

Erdogan is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the participating leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

The OTS, formerly called the Turkic Council, was established in 2009 as an intergovernmental organization comprising prominent independent Turkic countries that work together to elevate relations and union among themselves.

Its members are Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, while Hungary as well as Turkmenistan and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have observer status.