Turkey signs host country agreement with Turkic Speaking Countries Cooperation Council

ANKARA (A.A) - Turkey signed an agreement with Turkic Speaking Countries Cooperation Council to be the host country of the council. and the Council's Secretary General Halil Akinci signed the agreement within the scope of the 4th Ambassadors Conference in Ankara on Tuesday. Davutoglu said that 2011 was the 20th anniversary of the independence of Turkish states, adding that those countries recorded a great progress since then. Davutoglu noted that the Turkic Speaking Countries Cooperation Council's headquarters would take place in Istanbul under the agreement, adding that they wanted to make Istanbul a center of international organizations. I hope 21st century would be the century of Turkic speaking countries, added Davutoglu. Akinci said that an agreement, which had been signed in October 2009, envisaged that the Council's headquarters would take place in Istanbul, and the Council's secretariat general began operating in November 2010. With the agreement we signed today, legal infrastructure is completed regarding the status and operations of the secretariat general, noted Akinci. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality signed a cooperation protocol within the scope of the conference. The protocol aims to further develop the existing cooperation.