In recent years, the polarization witnessed in international relations points to a period in which regional organizations are being restructured not solely on the basis of security or economic interests, but also along the axes of cultural identity and historical affiliation. In this context, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) has emerged as a new center of power in Eurasia-oriented multilateral diplomacy, blending historical legacy with geopolitical strategy. The Budapest Summit held on 21 May 2025 marked a significant turning point in the institutional development and global visibility of the OTS, as it was the first time in the organization’s history that a summit was held in Europe under the auspices of an observer country, Hungary. This event concretely demonstrated the extent to which the Turkic World’s vision of political, economic and cultural integration could deepen in contact with the West. The summit yielded significant outcomes not only in institutional terms but also in fields such as multi-layered energy diplomacy, regional development, cultural integration and equal representation – thereby confirming the growing weight of the Turkic World as a multidimensional strategic actor in the international system.
The Informal Summit of the OTS, held in Budapest on 21 May 2025 under the hostship of Hungary, is of particular importance as it marked the first occasion on which an observer country hosted a high-level meeting of leaders. This carries geopolitical significance beyond its symbolic value in the changing international order. In this respect, the Budapest Summit may be regarded as a milestone at which the institutional identity and strategic partnership perspective of the Turkic World became visible in the heart of Europe.
Presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan, as well as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and OTS Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev, participated in the summit. The Budapest Declaration, published under the theme “Meeting Point of East and West”, presented a comprehensive framework aimed at restructuring the institutional structure, multidimensional cooperation mechanisms and global vision of the organization. While the Nakhchivan Agreement and the “Turkic World – 2040 Vision” were reaffirmed in this context, another strategic dimension of the summit was the special emphasis on Hungary’s potential bridge-building role in the development of OTS–EU relations within the European Union (EU).[i]
The statements made by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó after the summit clearly demonstrated that his country approaches the OTS not only from a perspective of cultural affinity, but also with a view to geoeconomic and strategic partnership. The examples he presented in areas such as energy security, economic growth, infrastructure investments and reciprocal trade illustrate Hungary’s multidimensional engagement with the Turkic World. These deepening ties with the Turkic states, which Szijjártó referred to as the “true defenders of peace”, have also been institutionalized through Hungary’s hosting of the OTS European Office. Moreover, Hungary’s active role in hydroelectric and nuclear investments in Central Asia indicates that these relations are being structured on the basis of concrete economic interests.[ii]
One of the key issues addressed within the context of the summit was the economic relationship between Hungary and Kazakhstan. The trade volume between the two countries increased by 4.4%, reaching 200 million USD, with a mid-term goal of expanding this figure to 700 million USD. This development is significant not only in terms of bilateral relations but also with respect to the advancement of logistics and transportation lines along the Middle Corridor. In this framework, the planned launch of the Shymkent–Budapest flight route on 27 May 2025 has symbolized the strengthening of both physical and diplomatic ties between the two countries.[iii]
The comprehensive speech delivered by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, emphasized the geoeconomic capacity of the OTS through concrete data. Tokayev underlined the need to consolidate the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian International Transport Route) as a strategic bridge extending from China, Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye to Europe. In this regard, he announced that Kazakhstan has digitalized border crossings with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and is preparing to open a third railway crossing on its border with China. He also stated that trade volume with OTS member states amounted to 11.4 billion USD in 2023 and proposed the preparation of a “trade development document” to further increase this figure.[iv]
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reinforced the geostrategic dimension of the summit through his statements on energy security. He noted that Ukraine’s suspension of Russian gas transit through its territory in early 2024 could have led to an energy crisis for Hungary, but emphasized that this threat was averted thanks to the TurkStream pipeline. Orbán reported that Hungary imports 8.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia, that a limited flow from Azerbaijan has commenced and that the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL continues its operations in Kazakhstan. Highlighting that trade volume with OTS countries has grown from 30 billion USD to 45 billion USD over the past decade, Orbán underlined that these relations extend beyond the energy sector.[v]
In the Budapest Declaration adopted at the summit, more than 70 decisions were made, encompassing the fields of energy, transportation, digitalization, finance, security, environment, health and culture. Technical steps such as the strengthening of the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor, the expansion of the e-Permit system and the Simplified Customs Corridor Agreement aim to position the Turkic World as a global logistics actor in Eurasia. The launch of projects under the Turkic Investment Fund was approved and a decision was made to ensure coordination among financial intelligence units and fintech institutions. Additionally, decisions regarding the harmonization of plant and health standards in agriculture, food security and the fight against drought supported the work of the Drought Mitigation Institute based in Budapest. In the context of climate diplomacy, the hosting of COP29 in Baku and the “Baku Climate Unity Pact” declaration were praised and Kazakhstan’s proposal for a 2026 Regional Climate Summit was accepted.
In terms of cultural integration, the designation of Aktau as the 2025 Cultural Capital of the Turkic World, the institutional-level celebration of Nowruz, the organization of the World Congress of Turkology in Uzbekistan in December 2025 and the support for joint cultural applications to UNESCO have strengthened the organization’s cultural diplomacy capacity. In addition, topics related to social integration came to the fore, such as youth and sports exchange programs, the First Turkic Winter Resorts Summit to be held in Azerbaijan under the chairmanship of the Shahdag Tourism Center and academic conferences on electoral systems. In response to the increasing workload of the Secretariat, the declaration also confirmed the decision to increase its budget and to prepare an action plan before the 2025 Azerbaijan Summit.
Within this context, another noteworthy point was the transformation of the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Hungary from a bilateral arrangement into a multilateral institutional framework under the umbrella of the OTS. The continuing mutual trust between President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s support for Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and coordination in energy and transportation investments played a fundamental role in the realization of the Budapest Summit. Despite Hungary’s position within the EU, its establishment of a strategic connection with the Turkic World renders this partnership even more distinctive.
One of the most sensitive issues highlighted during the summit was the status of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which remains unrecognized in the international arena. Although the TRNC was not officially invited to the Budapest Summit, its mention in the declaration –alongside observer countries such as Turkmenistan and Hungary– as an “inseparable part of the Turkic World” signifies strong symbolic support. In this regard, the declaration explicitly emphasized that “the Turkish Cypriot people are entitled to equal rights within the international community”, reflecting the OTS’s adoption of a shared sense of identity and representation not only in economic but also in political terms.
The absence of the TRNC was largely interpreted as a precautionary measure aimed at avoiding potential reactions from EU member states, given that the summit was held on the European continent. However, despite this strategic silence, the President of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, strongly stated during his address at the summit that the TRNC should be granted full membership in the Organization as soon as possible. Erdoğan emphasized that the TRNC’s position outside the Organization limits the OTS’s ability to represent the Turkic World comprehensively and he described this situation not only as a symbolic but also as a historical and strategic deficiency.[vi]
The declaration confirmed the ongoing process of ensuring greater institutional visibility for the TRNC, with a special reference to the 17th Meeting of the OTS Council of Elders held in Girne, TRNC, on 1–2 May 2025. In this context, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s statements defending the equal rights of the Turkish Cypriot community and underlining that they are an “inseparable part of the Turkic World” were considered among the first meaningful expressions by an EU member state that, even at the rhetorical level, questioned the current international status quo in favor of the Turkish Cypriot cause. While the declaration explicitly highlighted the TRNC’s full integration into the Turkic World, it simultaneously included decisions supporting Syria’s territorial integrity and the lifting of sanctions against the country, endorsing a two-state solution to the Israel–Palestine issue based on the 1967 borders and developing a common stance in relations with Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan’s official accession to the Shusha Declaration on 21 May 2025 was one of the most striking developments following the informal OTS summit in Budapest, indicating that military cooperation policies within the Turkic World had begun to take on an institutional foundation. The strategic document signed between Türkiye and Azerbaijan following the Karabakh Victory in 2021 has now evolved into a trilateral security architecture with the inclusion of Uzbekistan. This development initiated a multilateral integration process in areas such as defense industry cooperation, joint military exercises and intelligence sharing. Additionally, Uzbekistan’s preparations to allow entry into the country with internal passports not only for Azerbaijan but also for other regional partners like Russia and Kazakhstan represent a strategic move that facilitates regional mobility while promoting closer cooperation in the field of security. [vii]
The 2025 Budapest Summit marked a new threshold in the institutional engagement of the OTS with Europe and the adoption of more than 70 decisions at the summit demonstrated the OTS’s commitment to becoming a technically oriented, multi-layered and globally influential actor. Hungary’s role as host symbolized the Organization’s intent to advance in coordination –not confrontation– with Europe in geostrategic domains. A structural framework was established to facilitate integration into the EU system in technical fields such as the digitalization of the Middle Corridor, the expansion of the Turkic Investment Fund into Europe and green transformation. In this context, Hungary’s potential to reinforce its role as a bridge both within the OTS and on EU platforms functions as a critical lever in balancing Eurasia and Europe.
Uzbekistan’s accession to the Shusha Declaration constituted a strategic step that paved the way for a transition to a multilateral structure in the OTS’s military integration process. By joining the defense architecture established between Türkiye and Azerbaijan in 2021, Uzbekistan has officially become part of not only an alliance but also a shared perception of threats and defense capacity. This development may lead to increased joint exercises in the future, the emergence of technical standardization in defense industry cooperation and the institutionalization of intelligence sharing. Furthermore, the expansion of the internal passport entry system is likely to create a new area of integration that enhances coordination in the field of security at not only the military but also the administrative level within the OTS.
Nevertheless, the non-invitation of the TRNC to the summit revealed that the OTS is still in search of a balance between its ideals and the realities of international legitimacy. Although the Summit Declaration referred to the TRNC as an “inseparable part of the Turkic World” and President Erdoğan made a strong call for its full membership, this intent remained symbolic within the framework of Hungary’s hosting and the sensitivities related to the EU. From a realist perspective, it appears likely that the OTS will prioritize technically oriented cooperation with Europe in the coming period in order to enhance its strategic weight, while maintaining its position on politically sensitive issues such as the TRNC at the level of “geopolitical declarations”, awaiting a more favorable international context. In this respect, the Budapest Summit signaled a transitional phase in which the OTS deepened its role in security while advancing with an awareness of international balance.
[i] “Budapest Declaration of the Informal Summit of the Organization of Turkic States”, Organization of Turkic States, https://turkicstates.org/u/f/budapest-declaration.pdf, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[ii] Ignácz Péter, “Szijjártó: Hungary to Further Strengthen Relationship with Turkic States”, Telex, https://telex.hu/english/2025/05/21/szijjarto-hungary-to-strengthen-relationship-with-turkic-states, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[iii] Saniya Sakenova, “What Turkic Leaders Are to Discuss at Informal Summit in Hungary”, The Astana Times, https://astanatimes.com/2025/05/what-turkic-leaders-are-to-discuss-at-informal-summit-in-hungary, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[iv] “Tokayev Prizval İspolzovat Potentsial Tyurkskogo Regiona”, TASS, https://tass.ru/ekonomika/24007539, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[v] “Orban Otmetil na Sammite OTG Znacheniye Postavok Gaza iz RF”, TASS, https://tass.ru/ekonomika/24010759, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[vi] “Erdogan Predlozhil Prinyat Severnyy Kipr v OTG”, Finfly, https://finfly.az/ru/news/erdogan-predlozhil-priniat-severnyi-kipr-v-otg, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
[vii] Viktoria Panfilova, “Uzbekistan Prisoyedinilsya k Soyuzu Azerbaydzhana i Turtsii”, Centrasia, https://centrasia.org/newsA.php?st=1747904940, (Access Date: 22.05.2025).
