Based on the decision taken at the Leaders' Summit of the Turkic Council on April 10, which was attended by the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkic Council Health Ministers Meeting was held. Members agreed upon bolstering cooperation at the video conference.
In addition to the Minister of Health of Turkey, Dr. Fahrettin Koca, representing Turkey, the meeting was also attended by the health ministers of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Hungary, WHO European Region Director and the General-Secretary of the Turkic Council. At the meeting inaugurated by Azerbaijan, which is current term president, representatives of the member states took the floor.
Minister Koca stressed that measures taken by countries individually against the pandemic was not enough and that it was necessary to cooperate by taking measures at the global level. Noting that Turkey was one of the countries introducing measures to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Koca summarized all the precautions taken from an early stage. Sharing Turkey's best practices under three categories, namely "Pandemic Planning", "Supportive Strategies", and "Research and Development", Koca said:
"Turkey implements a well-rounded strategy including the testing and monitoring of all case contacts. As the Ministry Of Health, we have successfully isolated the virus in our laboratory. This will pave the way for more research to be conducted on vaccines. As the Ministry, we have also created a database for innovative projects on COVID-19."
Noting that they were ready for cooperation, especially among scientists, Koca called for cooperation among member states. Minister Koca proposed creating a supply chain to minimize commercial and financial impacts of the pandemic and hosting the Health Business Forum annually by one member state.
© 2025 Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Health All rights reserved.
