Uzbek diplomat Mirvokhid Azimov has been appointed Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), becoming the first representative of Uzbekistan to hold the position.
The decision was made on October 30 during the organization’s 13th summit in Ankara, Türkiye. Member-state leaders signed the formal appointment decision.
Azimov succeeds Kyrgyz diplomat Kubanychbek Omuraliev, who had held the position since November 2022.
Azimov previously served as Deputy Secretary General of the OTS from 2020 until May 2026, when Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev appointed him Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Earlier in his diplomatic career, Azimov headed Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry treaty and legal department and spent four years working at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Secretariat in Beijing.
The OTS was established in 2009 as the Turkic Council, with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Türkiye as its founding members. Uzbekistan joined in 2019.
Azimov becomes the organization’s fifth Secretary General. His four predecessors represented each of the other member countries: Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
As Secretary General, Azimov will lead the Istanbul-based secretariat, which coordinates the organization’s activities and supports the implementation of decisions taken by member governments.
The Ankara summit also saw Türkiye assume the organization’s rotating chairmanship from Azerbaijan. Member states agreed to hold the next summit in Uzbekistan in 2027.
