The Fourth Meeting of the Council of Heads of Muslim Religious Boards of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was held in Tashkent on 24-25 November 2023.
The meeting was hosted by Sheikh Nuriddin Haliknazarov, Head of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Uzbekistan and attended by the Ambassador Kubanychbek Omuraliev, Secretary General of the OTS, Sheikh ul-Islam Allahşükür Paşazade, Chairman of Caucasus Muslims’ Board of Azerbaijan, Nauryzbay Taganuly, Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Spiritual Board of the Muslims, Abdumannan Masaliev, Chairman of the Religious Council of Kyrgyzstan, Prof. Dr. Ali Erbaş, President of Religious Affairs of Türkiye and Yalkap Hojaguliyev, Grand Mufti Turkmenistan.
In his opening address, Secretary General Kubanychbek Omuraliev expressed the importance of cooperation in the religious field between the Turkic States and stated that considering the current challenges of the globe, Turkic-Islamic civilization is carrying the responsibility of creating solutions as well as deliver necessary respond to the problems of the current age.
Secretary General emphasized that cooperation in religious field started to yield concrete outcomes and parties agreed to release a joint fatwa on the Islam’s views towards extremism, which is the first fatwa agreed by the Turkic States in the history.
Parties underlined the importance of deepening cooperation in the religious field and by increasing interaction studies in this sphere will contribute to the peace in the region and beyond.
As the concrete outcomes of the meeting, Parties agreed on releasing the document on “Islam’s Attitude on Extremism”, formation of a “Fatwa Coordination Group”, conducting scientific research on the religious issues, organizing exchange of experience program on religious education institutions and a joint forum reflecting the values of the Turkic-Islamic civilization.