Russia and the Turkic World: An Initiative by Kasym-Jomarta Tokaeva.
1. The President of Kazakhstan Kasem-Jomart Tokayev, speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Ankara, expressed a non-trivial political initiative. "In order to increase the authority of our organization, it would be a correct and fair decision to maintain a positive attitude towards Russia's intention and invite it to join this format or participate in UTC activities as an observer," the Kazakh leader said.
2. This proposal began to be widely discussed almost immediately after its announcement. There was no shortage of predictions and expert assumptions. But official representatives of Moscow and Ankara (at least for now) are showing restraint about Tokayev's initiative.
3. Many commentators called the idea of the Kazakh leader unexpected. This is not entirely true. Back in July 2016, during his speech at the All-Russian Youth Forum "Territory of Meanings", Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov answered a question about possible formats of interaction between Moscow and the Turkish Cooperation Council (created in October 2009, became OTG in November 2021). And he allowed Russia to participate if the organization considers that it is possible to join a country where there is a Turkish population, but not the majority. As a result, the very idea of interacting with the Turkish Association has been discussed in the past. Moreover, Moscow has a somewhat similar experience; Since June 2005, Russia has become an observer state in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (formerly the Organization of the Islamic Conference).
4. But, as the users of public youth pages say, "everything is not easy" in the RF-OTG line. Moscow is interested in maintaining influence in Central Asia and the Caucasus, developing the North-South transport corridor and cooperating with Turkey, as well as promoting the Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative.