Erdoğan at OTS Türkistan Summit: 'Unity in Digital Vision' — 115 Years After Gaspıralı, AI Must Not Become a Tool of Domination, Turkish-Language AI Model, Strengthen Relations with the TRNC (Erhürman)

News imagery representing President Erdoğan's 'unity in digital vision' and cyber-security message at the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) Leaders' Summit in Türkistan and the participation of TRNC President Tufan Erhürman

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking at the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) Leaders' Summit in Türkistan, highlighted "the presence among us of the Cypriot Turkish people, an inseparable part of the Turkic world" and said he was pleased to see TRNC President Tufan Erhürman at the summit. Calling on the Turkic world to continue strengthening its political, economic and cultural relations with the TRNC, Erdoğan described the summit's theme of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development as "very fitting". Erdoğan said: "The time has come, 115 years after İsmail Gaspıralı's motto 'unity in language, ideas and work', for us to add the expression 'unity in digital vision'." He stressed that this vision should be built on qualified human capital, strong digital infrastructure and a data-based public administration approach, with digital connectivity among member countries strengthened and joint technology projects developed.

Erdoğan said: "To prevent AI from becoming a tool of domination, we must approach this theme from the right angle, as an opportunity", adding: "We will produce new scientists from these fertile lands which raised Al-Khwarizmi, the father of algebra and algorithms; Al-Farabi, the master of philosophy and logic; Ibn Sina, whose works illuminated medical science; and the astronomy pioneers Al-Biruni, Ulugh Beg and Ali Qushji." Stressing that "cyber-security is, in today's world, as vital and indispensable as security on land, air and sea", he announced that under Türkiye's upcoming OTS presidency cyber-security coordination and cooperation will be taken further within the OTS. He said he believed that a Turkish-language AI model that makes the richness of the common language visible in the digital world — and similar AI-based initiatives — should be supported, and stressed that the common Turkic alphabet should be used in a wide area from education to culture, from academic cooperation to digital transformation. Erdoğan also said that crises in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Ukraine and many others showed the Turkic world the need to strengthen defence capacity and increase industrial cooperation.

From a supply chain perspective, this statement is critical along four axes. First, the headings of "unity in digital vision" and a Turkish-language AI model open an opportunity to build, within Türkiye's sovereign AI silicon-data strategy, a joint architecture of shared data centres + LLM training infrastructure + Turkic tokenisers combining the ecosystems of Astana Hub (Kazakhstan), TFTECH (Turkmenistan), IT Park (Uzbekistan), Innovation Hub Baku (Azerbaijan) and Bishkek IT Park (Kyrgyzstan) with the capabilities of BiLGE Hub + TÜBİTAK BİLGEM + ASELSAN-HAVELSAN + HAVELSAN-VERA — reducing dependence on OpenAI/Anthropic/Mistral/DeepSeek and operationalising the "Turkic World Century" narrative. Second, the cyber-security coordination priority implies positioning Türkiye SOME (Cyber Incident Response Teams) + STM Cyber Centre as the umbrella institution of a OTS-CERT format; this would open a supplier market for joint SOC operations, threat-intel sharing and OT/ICS security across critical infrastructure (energy, transport, finance) — an export base for Turkish players such as Yonca, Bilge Adam Boost, ASELSAN MILSEC and HAVELSAN HUMAN AI. Third, the message of strengthening relations with the TRNC could mean operational deepening of the Nicosia-Ankara air bridge and Mersin-Famagusta Ro-Ro lines, joint renewable energy + agriculture investments via Bozhanay Solar Plant and the Turkish Cypriot Industrial Chamber, and a renewed agenda for third-country firm insurance/finance access in expansion projects such as İGA Ercan Airport. Fourth, under the heading of defence industry cooperation, the broad supplier network of BAYKAR, ASELSAN, ROKETSAN and TUSAŞ in the Turkic-world external markets — Azerbaijan (TB2/TB3, Akıncı, KEMANKEŞ), Kazakhstan (Anka, KORKUT), Uzbekistan (Akıncı), Kyrgyzstan (TB2) — provides an incubator for the "Made in Türkiye" export chain extending from within the OTS toward sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East; combined with Turkmenistan's 2027 TURKPA Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline decision, strategic weight rises further.

Key Takeaways:
1. At the OTS Leaders' Summit in Türkistan, President Erdoğan proposed adding "unity in digital vision" to Gaspıralı's "unity in language, ideas and work" 115 years later.
2. He stressed that cyber-security is as vital and indispensable as security on land, air and sea, and that AI must not become a tool of domination.
3. Erdoğan, expressing satisfaction at TRNC President Tufan Erhürman's participation in the summit, called on the Turkic world to strengthen political/economic/cultural relations with the TRNC.
4. He called for support for a Turkish-language AI model and similar AI-based initiatives, and for the common Turkic alphabet to be used from education to digital transformation.
5. Under its upcoming OTS presidency, Türkiye aims to take forward coordination and cooperation in cyber-security.
6. Erdoğan said the crises in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran and Ukraine pointed to the need for the Turkic world to enhance defence and industrial cooperation.
7. Supply chain impact: a Turkic LLM + a shared Astana Hub / TFTECH / IT Park data centre + a BiLGE/TÜBİTAK BİLGEM/ASELSAN-HAVELSAN sovereign AI silicon-data strategy + an OTS-CERT (STM Cyber/Yonca/Bilge Adam) + Nicosia-Ankara air bridge and Mersin-Famagusta Ro-Ro for the TRNC + İGA Ercan expansion + BAYKAR/ASELSAN/ROKETSAN/TUSAŞ OTS export network + Turkmenistan's 2027 TURKPA Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline.