Azernews.Az

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijani Education Minister Misir Mardanov has stressed the need for common educational TV channels of Turkic speaking countries, the Education Ministry website said Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting with Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS), Halil Akinci, Mardanov stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation between the Turkic countries and noted the need to improve relations in the field of education for rapprochement of Turkic nations.

Akinci, regarding issues of a common alphabet and language of Turkic peoples, stressed the importance of preparing common textbooks on history and literature.

Speaking about the development of relations between universities, Akinci drew attention to mutual recognition of diplomas and establishment of common educational TV channels.

Akinci said a meeting of the CCTS member states' experts is planned and noted the possibility of reaching consensus on the proposals made.

Mardanov, for his part, pointed to the need for expansion of ties between the universities of Turkic-speaking countries and cited the possibility of organizing joint conferences.

The Education Ministry's ICT bureau earlier said a new Internet portal for children will be created in Azerbaijan in the coming months to broadcast educational TV programs within the launched Tehsil TV (Educational TV) project.

The project's primary goal is to inform Azerbaijani population of the country's educational programs, projects and overall situation in the Azerbaijani education system.

The CCTS was establihed in 2009 to promote comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states. The founding member states are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.

According to the two main CCTS documents - the Nakhcivan Agreement of October 3, 2009 and the Istanbul Declaration of September 16, 2010, CCTS member states embrace the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, along with other universally recognized principles of international law.

The CCTS objectives include further deepening of comprehensive cooperation among Turkic speaking states as well as making joint contributions to peace and stability worldwide. Expanding interaction in science, technology, education and culture is one of the CCTS' main purposes as well.