Address by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Turkic States

Your Excellency Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan!

Dear heads of states and governments!

I am pleased to see you all at the extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Turkic States.

On behalf of all my colleagues I extend my deepest condolences to the enduring people of Türkiye and our dear brother, His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of the Republic of Türkiye.

I would like to express my special gratitude to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Heydarovich Aliyev for his initiative to hold our extraordinary meeting today.

Distinguished Heads of Delegations!

Today's summit and the video that has just been demonstrated are vivid examples of our support and assistance to one another in the most difficult times, the power of friendship and solidarity. The unprecedented and disastrous earthquake that shattered the land of our friends caused deep grief and sorrow in our hearts. Nothing can fill this loss, as this horrible disaster took the lives and injured our beloved parents, brothers, sisters, and children.

It is worth noting that for millennia our brotherly nations have been able to courageously overcome various challenges and problems with unity, kindness and mercy.

The people of Uzbekistan rushed to help to our Turkish brothers in these difficult days by saying "Türkiye! We are with you!".

The memories of tens of thousands of innocent people who fell victim to this horrible tragedy will always be with us.

With your permission to honor the blessed memory of all untimely deceased, I would like to propose to announce February 6 as the Day of Remembrance of Victims and Solidarity within the Organization of Turkic States.

Dear participants of the meeting!

I would like to underline the dynamic efforts and extremely important plans and programs under the leadership of distinguished President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to build hundreds of thousands of new houses for the population and restore infrastructure.

Thanks to swift and efficient response, the lives and health of many people have been saved, large amounts of funds have been accumulated to start massive restoration work. In sum, in these challenging days the brotherly Turkish people with their unique bravery and courage, the firm will and great spirit are mobilizing around the Leader of Türkiye.

We are all ready to stand beside you and make all our efforts to help you to restore and rebuild the destroyed cities and villages, social and industrial facilities. For instance, we are planning to contribute to the construction works in Ovakent district of Hatay province, which was one of the epicenters of the earthquake and where our rescue teams were deployed.

I am confident that the beautiful apartment buildings, modern schools and infrastructure facilities, which we are planning to build there, will become a vivid symbol of our close friendship and solidarity.

In addition, we will create all the necessary conditions for the recuperation and recreation of the elderly people from disaster-hit areas and perform pilgrimage to the mausoleums of our great ancestors such as Imam Bukhari, Imam Termizi, Imam Moturidi, Bahouddin Naqshband. We believe it would be most appropriate, if these groups are led by the Council of Elders of our Organization.

In addition, this summer we intend to invite the youth from Hatay province to Uzbekistan. We will to organize recreational activities and trips to ancient Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva cities, and hold joint events with their peers in our country.

Dear Colleagues!

As the analysis shows in terms of geographic location and geological features the territories of the Organization's member-states are considered to be a zone, where natural hazards and disasters are common.

Unfortunately, in recent years global climate change is increasing the scope and damage of these disasters.

In order to expand our practical cooperation in this field I would like to draw your attention to the following proposals:

I suggest setting up a systemic Cooperation Platform of the Organization to prevent and mitigate the consequences of emergencies. I consider as an urgent task the formation of specific mechanisms and implementation of important measures as part of this Platform.

Firstly, it is very important to develop as soon as possible a Multilateral Agreement on the prevention of natural disasters and emergencies. In this regard, we fully support the draft document submitted by the Turkish side on setting up a civil defense system.

Secondly, we need to sharply activate the partnership between our ministries for emergencies.

It is high time for developing a Joint Action Program on priority areas during their next meeting.

We should focus on ensuring strict compliance with technical safety requirements and using the best international expertise in this field; regularly raising the awareness of the population; building capacity and improving the experience of the rescue teams.

Thirdly, it is expedient to create mechanisms of support to address social and economic problems in times of such unexpected disasters. It is mostly about ensuring an uninterrupted supply of food and construction materials, launching cooperation projects to restore the industrial base.

Certainly, we believe that the initial financial resources of the Turkic Investment Fund to be inaugurated today can also be directed to these projects.

Yet another important issue. Despite the achievements of modern science and technology, predicting and early warning of earthquakes, floods and mudslides, wildfires and hurricanes remains an urgent task.

Undoubtedly, deep research of these processes, broad use of science and technology can give significant positive results.

Taking this into account, I hope you will support our initiative to set up in Tashkent the Center for Monitoring and Analysis of Natural Disasters under the Organization.

In addition, the Organization of Turkic States should strengthen its cooperation with specialized international structures. In particular, I believe it would be expedient for the Secretariat of our Organization to focus on establishing close ties with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, the Secretariat of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and the Disaster Response Emergency Fund.

Dear participants of the summit!

In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to another issue. Several member-states of our Organization are about to hold important political events, including elections. I wish successful holding of these events.

This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Türkiye.

In the last twenty years, under the leadership of my brother distinguished Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prestige and profile of the Republic of Türkiye in the international arena have dramatically increased, the place and influence of the state in the global economy and policy are consistently strengthening.

We especially acknowledge the unmatched leadership of the President in all the accomplishments and great achievements of modern and powerful Türkiye.

Therefore, on behalf of all our brotherly nations, we urge the people of Türkiye to fully support the distinguished Recep Tayyip Erdogan's candidacy in the elections.

It is more than relevant that our common desire is to be expressed in the Ankara Declaration that will be adopted today.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate you all on the upcoming holiday of Navruz - the festivity of spring and rejuvenation, as well as the month of Ramadan.

Thank you for your attention.

Source: UzA