ANKARA 

Uzbekistan officially applied to join the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS), Turkey’s foreign minister said on Thursday.

"I have good news. Uzbekistan decided to join to the Turkic Council as well. They officially applied to the secretariat of Turkic Council," Mevlut Cavusoglu told a local gathering in Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

Application documents were immediately sent to Uzbekistan, Cavusoglu said.

"Turkmenistan also wants to be the observer state in the council," he added.

“We received a positive signal from Turkmenistan for the first time. They said they want to start as an observer country,” Turkey’s top diplomat said.

Turkic Council Secretary General Baghdad Amreyev and his assistant will go to Turkmenistan, Cavusoglu said. “Turkmenistan will be a crucial regional actor."

The Turkic Council was established in 2009 as a global intergovernmental organization an aim to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states.

Cavusoglu, who recalled that Hungary became an observer member in 2018, said the European branch of the Turkic Council would be opened in Sept. 19 in the Hungarian capital Budapest.