A red and white trail of fighter jets over Astana marked the beginning of a two-day diplomatic focus on Turkic relations. The display accompanied the state visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 14.
The following day, both Erdogan and Tokayev travelled separately to the southern city of Turkistan. Together with the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Northern Cyprus, they gathered for an informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
Held back-to-back, Erdogan’s state visit and the OTS summit carried overlapping themes, including humanitarian aid, trade, and cultural cooperation. Yet a key difference emerged: discussions on joint weapons manufacturing, agreed during the bilateral visit on May 14, were notably absent from the following day’s summit. For Tokayev, this was a topic to avoid in the broader multilateral setting.
While some OTS members advocate for deeper military cooperation, the Kazakh president has consistently pushed back against such ambitions. This leaves the scope of collaboration within the organization somewhat undefined, particularly on security-related issues.
Following a ceremonial welcome for Erdogan in Astana, the two presidents entered negotiations focused on expanding bilateral trade, with emphasis on agriculture, digitalization, logistics, and defense industry cooperation. Tokayev announced Kazakhstan’s readiness to increase exports to Turkiye by more than $630 million.
Several agreements were signed during the visit, most notably a joint venture to produce the Turkish-developed Anka drone. The deal marks a further step in the UAV cooperation initiated in 2022.
The two leaders also signed memorandums on humanitarian cooperation and cultural exchange, with the visit concluding with a Declaration of Eternal Friendship and Expanded Strategic Partnership. Despite its grand title, the declaration’s practical impact remains limited. Kazakhstan has signed similar agreements only with Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – the last being signed in 1998.
In Turkistan the following day, the emphasis shifted more clearly toward culture and symbolic diplomacy. Military cooperation was absent from public statements, while discussions reportedly focused on trade and artificial intelligence, a growing priority for Kazakhstan’s leadership.
Outside formal talks, Tokayev used the setting to highlight Kazakhstan’s Turkic heritage. The leaders visited the Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, the 12th-century Sufi mystic credited with spreading Islam in the region. They also initiated plans for a new Center for Turkic Civilization.
Yet not all members share Kazakhstan’s reluctance to deepen security cooperation through the OTS.
“We need to strengthen our defense and increase our cooperation in the field of industry. As Turkiye, we are ready to share with the members of our organization the experience we have gained in the defense industry,” Erdogan said following the summit.
Similar calls were made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev when Baku hosted an OTS summit in October 2025, where he proposed joint military exercises in 2026. These plans have yet to materialize.
Kazakhstan has participated in military drills with some OTS members as recently as last year, and maintains varying levels of defense cooperation with several of them, including Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
Despite this, Tokayev has been clear that the OTS is not a military alliance.
“The Organization of Turkic States is neither a geopolitical project nor a military organization. It is a unique platform aimed at strengthening trade, economic, technological, digital, cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among brotherly nations,” he said, responding to suggestions that the bloc could evolve into a Turkic security alliance.
According to a recent analysis in The Diplomat, this reflects Kazakhstan’s broader effort to maintain a pragmatic and multi-vector foreign policy, preserving regional partnerships without binding political or military alignment.
As Kazakhstan continues to emphasize the OTS as a cultural and economic platform while expanding selective defense cooperation with its members, the question remains whether Tokayev can keep the organization firmly outside the sphere of formal defense integration.
