Türkiye making every effort to end conflict in Ukraine: Erdogan

Türkiye is making "every effort" to end the conflict in Ukraine as well as to prevent a food crisis, the Turkish president has told the Turkic summit in Uzbekistan.

"We are making every effort to end the conflicts, through a just peace, that have been going on for nine months in Ukraine. While doing this, we are making necessary interventions to prevent the food crisis," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during his address on Friday.

The member states are going through a sensitive period "with risks as well as opportunities for our countries," Erdogan said, and added: "In this period, we see that it has become much more critical for us to strengthen cooperation, solidarity, and harmony in all fields."

Erdogan also announced that The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has been accepted as an observer state in the organisation, adding that "we contributed to the solution process by showing that our Cypriot brothers, who are an integral part of the Turkic world, are not alone."

On the second anniversary of Azerbaijan's Karabakh victory, the president reiterated Ankara's support to Baku.

"The peace process in the South Caucasus still remains fragile despite all the attempts of Azerbaijan," he said.

"We stand by Azerbaijan in its pursuit of peace as well as in its struggles."

Erdogan urged Turkic states to expand cooperation in the prevention and management of irregular migration, underlining that Türkiye has been the country hosting the most refugees in the world since 2014.

"It would be appropriate for us to develop a common security concept and continue the meetings of the security council secretaries," he added.

He also said a fund should be implemented by the Organisation of Turkic States to strengthen cooperation.

"It would be beneficial to implement the Turkish Investment Fund as soon as possible. I believe that the financial opportunities provided by the fund will strengthen our cooperation and accelerate our activities," Erdogan said.

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'Common prosperity'

The summit is taking place under the slogan "A new era of Turkic civilization: On the way to common development and prosperity."

The participants of the meeting plan to discuss issues of economic cooperation and the current international agenda.

Türkiye will pass the chairmanship to Uzbekistan, and the Samarkand Declaration will be adopted as part of the event.

The Organisation of Turkic States is an interstate bloc, established with the aim of expanding cooperation between Turkish-speaking countries in the fields of politics, economics, science, education, transport, and tourism.

The members of the organisation are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan.

Hungary and Turkmenistan have observer status in the organisation.

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