Erdoğan travels to Astana
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan departed for Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, at 10:15 AM on the special aircraft 'TUR' to attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
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President and AKP Chairman Erdoğan was seen off from Esenboğa Airport by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Ankara Governor Vasip Şahin, and other officials.
Accompanying Erdoğan to Astana are his wife Emine Erdoğan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, MIT Director İbrahim Kalın, Chief Advisor to the President on Foreign Policy and Security Akif Çağatay Kılıç, and Deputy Communications Director Çağatay Özdemir.
Heads of state and government from 16 countries will attend the summit. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Heads of State Summit begins today. At the conclusion of the summit, Kazakhstan will hand over the term presidency to China.