The Turkic Council

The Turkic Council is an organisation of independent Turkic countries whose aim is to promote cooperation among Turkic-speaking countries.  The council was founded in 2009 by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.  The council's headquarters are in Istanbul.

In 2019, Uzbekistan joined the council.

In 2018, Hungary joined the council as an observer member.  Hungary isn't a Turkic nation so, to me, it seems real odd that Hungary is a part of the club.  Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán probably did it to taunt the EU.  I suppose Orbán needs additional allies and the Turkic countries aren't exactly known for being liberal democracies.  Besides, Orbán has a track record of going on about how Europe has a Christian history and he's not known as being exactly welcoming to Islam.  All of the other council member countries are more Muslim than not.

In 2021, Turkmenistan also joined as an observer member so now, except for Tajikistan, four of the five of the "Stans" are members of the council. 

Earlier this year, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan applied for observer status but no decision has been made public yet.

While not an official language, English is a working language of the council.

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube that talks about the council.

©Organization of Turkic States

Update:  In November 2021, the Turkic Council changed its name to the Organization of Turkic States.