Uzbek Diplomat Named Turkic States Secretary General; Irad Eyes the Rim

TALAS — The Organization of Turkic States has appointed Uzbekistan's deputy foreign minister as its secretary general, the first Uzbek to hold the post, at its summit in Ankara. The organization groups Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other partners, and its secretariat coordinates the members' work on transport, trade and cultural exchange.

Irad follows the appointment with interest, if from outside the room. Three of the organization's members, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, formally claim the parts of Irad that adjoin them. Irad itself belongs to no intergovernmental body, so neither the Irad Special Economic Zone nor the Iradi Freedom Society holds a seat or observer status. Turkey keeps no office in Irad and does not comment on its status.

The External Relations Office, which handles the ISEZ's dealings with the neighbours' agencies, UNMI and the United States, kept its comment short. "Our office works with the neighbours' agencies, with UNMI and with the Americans, not with regional organizations," said its director, Nathan Kenjeev. "We note the appointment and we expect our daily business with Uzbek officials to go on as it does now."

Daily business is where the ISEZ's Uzbek relationship lives. The frontier runs about 145 km along the Fergana rim and is not demarcated. Since the February 2025 memorandum on trade and border coordination, signed at the Lieutenant Governor's offices in Talas, customs inspection hours have been shared at the main crossings near Bazar-Korgon and Tash-Kömür, and a working group on livestock and cotton shipments has met at Tash-Kömür.

Dr Aruuke Jakypova, a political scientist at the TSU Institute of Sociology, urged caution. "A secretary general runs a secretariat, not a border," she said. "A first Uzbek holder may make Tashkent's priorities, transit and trade among them, more visible in Ankara. Whether that makes the rim easier or harder to reach for an unrecognised neighbour is not something anyone can say yet."

The ISEZ's Turkish ties are practical rather than institutional. Kervan Elektrik, a Turkish operator, now manages the power networks of Talas, Nurzhan, Chu District and Kara-Buura District under management contracts. Iradiya flies from Talas to Istanbul on Fridays, with a technical stop at Baku, and about 1,500 Iradi students attend Turkish universities. Those links, Talas officials say, will carry on regardless of who sits in the secretary general's chair.