Kazakhstani parliament allows Turkic Academy to stay in Nur-Sultan

On April 21, the upper chamber of Kazakhstan’s parliament Senate ratified the agreement between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Turkic Academy. This document regulates all the issues linked to the operation of the academy on Kazakhstani soil.

According to Askhat Aymagambetov, minister of education and science in Kazakhstan, the agreement is drawing a line under issues such as the status, privileges and immunity of the Turkic Academy, its property and staff in Kazakhstan. Members of the organization are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Azerbaijan while Hungary has the status of observer.

«Due to the fact that the headquarters of the academy is located in Nur-Sultan, the agreement must define the official status of the academy, its privileges and immunity during its work. So far, there are 17 employees in the organization, including two foreigners. Once the agreement is entered into force, local and foreign employees must obtain official accreditation from the foreign ministry,» he said.

Such accreditation by the MFO will be the main basis for the academy’s foreign employees staying in Kazakhstan.

As the minister said, the academy, which is located in the diplomatic compound of Nur-Sultan, is going to facilitate Turkic language studies in order to preserve and popularize Turkic languages, literature and culture. The entity is also going to coordinate this work and support publishing activities. At the same time, the president and vice president of the academy are going to have all those privileges that the Vienne Convention of 1961 provides for executives of international organizations. However, if the positions of president and vice president of the Turkic Academy are taken by locals, they won’t be granted some privileges including diplomatic immunity from legal prosecution, according to Aymagambetov. Moreover, Kazakhstan doesn’t rule out that foreign employees of the academy may be exiled from the country for serious violations of the country’s legislation.

The minister also said that Kazakhstan is going to cover 44.5% of all the academy’s costs. He said that Turkey covers the same amount of expenditures in TURKSOY while Azerbaijan does the same in TURKPA.