Aisholpan Nurgaiv is the youngest female huntress in the history of eagle hunting tradition. In 2014, Aisholpan - the teenage huntress participated and won the eagle hunting competition during the annual Golden Eagle Festival in Western Mongolia.

“Bundled up to combat the frigid climate, a 13-year-old girl stands on a rock with her arm extended. Western Mongolia’s dramatic mountain vistas stretch out behind her. Smiling, she watches as a 15-pound eagle soars off her arm.

This image of Aisholpan Nurgaiv, captured by Israeli photographer Asher Svidensky, was part of a photo series that went viral in 2014 and caught the eye of English filmmaker Otto Bell. Soon, he contacted Svidensky and the two men jumped on a plane to Mongolia to find her.

What resulted was the documentary The Eagle Huntress, and the first steps on a remarkable journey for a young girl. The film chronicles Nurgaiv’s quest to enter the challenging, male-dominated field of eagle hunting, a Mongolian pastime in which skilled trainers teach golden eagles to hunt for wild animals. The documentary follows Nurgaiv to the highly competitive Golden Eagle Festival in Ölgii, where she became both the youngest contestant and the first female ever to take part. The film was officially opened in 28 countries.

“From an early age, I was always interested in being an eagle huntress,” Nurgaiv said. “I don’t see any differences between me and the other boys.”

Nurgaiv also had the support of family — particularly her father, Rys, who backed her when other men in her community were critical of her pursuit. It also helped that Nurgaiv never doubted herself: “At first I was a little bit excited and worried, but I wasn’t afraid,” she said.

Now, Nurgaiv says she is happy that her story has inspired girls and women around the world. Closer to home, Nurgaiv’s example is already having an effect: a growing number of girls in her Mongolian community have sought to train as eagle hunters. For her part, Nurgaiv hopes that young girls - wherever they live - can persevere in the face of doubt, criticism, and entrenched gender norms. “They must keep trying," she said, "and be brave." (source: https://asiasociety.org/asia-game-changers/aisholpan-nurgaiv).

In 2020, Aisholpan Nurgaiv together with Liz Welch published a book “The Eagle Huntress. The True Story of the Girl Who Soared Beyond Expectations”.

Aisholpan is a recipient of Asia Game Changer Award, 2017, for breaking gender barriers at a remarkably young age. She also received the state honored Medal of the Polar Star from Mongolian President at her age of 16 in 2018.

Liu Heung Shing was born 1951 in Hong Kong. Having had multiple assignments across Asia and the US across the shifting geopolitical landscape that marked the last decades of the 20th century, Liu Heung Shing arguably most noted for having photographed two of its watershed historic events in the 20th century: The rise of China through the upheaval of its economic reforms; and the collapse of the Soviet Union under the stewardship of Mikhail Gorbachev.

For these achievement, Liu was recognized by the Associated Press as Best Photographer in 1989 and 1991. His coverage of these events has also been awarded Photo of the Year by the University of Missouri, for his coverage of the Tiananmen Turmoil in 1989. His candid portraits and ground-level street photography offer a distinctly human perspective.

In 1991, Liu Heung Shing while working for the Associated Press as a correspondent in Moscow took photographs of the Soviet Union’s President Gorbachev and his announcement of the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Liu Heung Shing, together with his colleagues won the Pulitzer Prize for Live News Photography Award and the Overseas Press Club award in 1992.

From 2000 to 2005, he served as executive vice president of Star TV a subsidiary of News Corp. He then joined the Creative Artists Agency as senior advisor. In 2015, Liu Heung Shing founded the Shanghai Centre of Photography, where he works as the founding director.

More recently, Liu Heung Shing’s photographs have included portraits of individuals who fill China’s growing list of success stories from the world of business and the arts. Liu Heung Shing is currently represented by Star Gallery in Beijing.

Liu Heung Shing’s publications include: China after Mao: Seek the Truth From Facts (1983), USSR: The Collapse of an Empire (1991), China, Portrait of a Country (2008), Shanghai: A History in Photographs 1842 - Today (2010), China in Revolution: The Road to 1911 (2012), A Life in a Sea of Red (2019)

Educaton: Almaty Institute of Foreign Languages (1958-1963);
Academic Degrees: Doctor of Philology, Professor;
Member of International High School Academy of Sciences of Russia (Since 1995);
Member of International High School Academy of   Sciences of Kazakhstan (Since 1995);
Diplomatic Degree:
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the First Class;
Diplomatic Service: Ambassador of Kazakhstan in London UK (2000-2001);
Academic Positions:  
Teacher of English; Senior Teacher of English; Vice Dean of the English Faculty; Dean of the English Faculty; Deputy Rector of the Almaty Institute of Foreign Languages (1963-1990);
Rector of the Kazakh State University of International Relations and World Languages (1993-1997);
The Founder and the First Rector of the Kazakh-British Technical University (2001-2004);
Vice-rector for International Cooperation of the Kazakh-British Technical University (2004-2007).
State services:
Permanent Representative of the Almaty City Administration in the Sister-city Tucson (Arizona, USA -1990-1992);
Chairman of the Committee for Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1997-1999);
First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1999-2000);
Participation in Public Activities within International organizations and in the Republic of Kazakhstan:
Member of the Executive Council of the European Association of Higher Educational Institutions (2004-2007);
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (2008-2013);
Personal Representative of the Chperson-in-Office of the OSCE on Combatting Indifference and Discrimination against Muslims (2008-2013);
Special Representative of the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Kyrgyzstan (2010);
Member of the International Assembly of CIS (2010-2013);
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE on Appeal to the President of the United States (2008);
Member of the Council of Elders of the Turkic Council of Cooperation of Turkic states (2013-2019);
Member of the Commission on Human Rights under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2012-2018).
State and International awards:
Orders: "Kurmet "(2009),  "Sodruzhestvo" of International Assembly of the CIS (2012); "Barys" 1st grade (2020) .
Medals: "Astana"; "10 years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan"; "20 Years of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan"; "10 Years of Astana"; "20 Years of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan"; "25 Years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan"; "25 Years of the Aassembly of People of Kazakhstan".
Honorable Titles:
"Honored Worker of Kazakhstan"; “Honored Worker of the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan"; "Honorary Citizen of Almaty region"; "Honorary Citizen of Raiymbek District of Almaty region of Kazakhstan".
Scientific monographs published in the Kazakh Language:
 "Taboos and euphemisms in Turkic Languages"; "Asia – Beringia – America or Asian Origin of American 'Indians'"; "The Roots of the Turkic Civilization"; "The Code of Eurasia. On the Eve of the Fifth Civilization"; "The Notes of a Scientist, Politician and Diplomat"; "The Lessons of the Century”; "The Altaic Origin of American Indians before the Era of Columbus"; "The Taboos of the Turkic world".
Scientific monographs published in the Russian Language:
"Asia – Beringia – America or Asian Origin of American 'Indians'"; "The Altaic Origin of American ‘Indians’ before the era of Columbus"; "; "The Code of Eurasia. On the Eve of the Fifth Civilization"; "The Lessons of the Century”;

Scientific monograph published in the Turkish Language:
"The Altaic Origin of American ‘Indians’ before the era of Columbus"

Halil Akinci was born in 1945 in Ula, Muğla, Türkiye. He graduated from Izmir College and in 1967 from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Foreign Relations.

Mr. Akinci served in different positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye. Between January 1980 and March 1989 he worked at the NATO secretariat, Brussels, as an administrator dealing with the Soviet Union. He served in Moscow in different capacities as First Secretary, Minister Counselor and Ambassador three times. While he was the Minister Counselor at the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, he also headed the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) Permanent Mission to Georgia, which was the first regional mission of CSCE, between December 1992 and May 1993. Mr. Akinci served as Turkish Ambassador to Ljubljana, New Delhi and Moscow.

In September 2010, Ambassador Akinci was appointed by Presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Türkiye, as the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.

As a renowned expert on Soviet and post-Soviet Eurasia, he participated in many scientific meetings and conferences on Soviet Union, Russia, Central Asian Countries, the Caucasus and India between 1975 and 2010. He lectured at various military academies and universities of the member countries while working at NATO. Ambassador Akinci authored several articles on Central Asia, the Caucasus, Black Sea region, Afghanistan and India. He recently edited Mansura Haidar’s book Indo-Turkish Architecture and contributed to it an article entitled Turks and India, India and Türkiye.

In December 2010, he received “Bureaucrat with Strategic Vision of 2010 Award”, presented to him by the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies (TASAM).

Ambassador Akinci is an Honorary Professor at the Eurasian University, Astana, Kazakhstan. Mr. Akıncı was the Advisor at the Turkic Council Secretariat for one year until September 2015.

Elnara Bainazarova is a media, communication and international relations specialist for Eurasia with a special focus on multilateralism and public diplomacy.

Currently, she is Development Coordination Officer on Communications and Advocacy at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator (RCO) in Kazakhstan. In this capacity she co-chairs the UN Communications Group; plans and facilitates strategy, advocacy and programme communications in support of the UNSDCF; leads and supports communication activities on the UN Country Team and liaises with local media environment.

As co-chair of the UN Communications Group in Kazakhstan, Elnara is focused on streamlining the joint communications delivering as “One UN”, advancing the 2030 Agenda, and enhancing the UN visibility in the country, including digital channels.

One of the latest activities to be proud of is spearheading the UN Day 2022 with the premiere of the first in Central Asia inclusive theatre “Qanattylar”, which was an excellent example of the UN’s ‘leaving no one behind’ concept, elevating partnerships and implementing disability inclusion strategy. Last year’s joint photo exhibition “Ordinary Objects” dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism campaign gained the extra spotlight, being displayed apart from Kazakhstan’s key regions in the UN’s Geneva office as well. Due to joint communication activities and strategic social media management, the general engagement rate sharply increased by 60 per cent, comprising almost 6 mln reach, with current 52K followers on Instagram, and 6K on Facebook.

Before joining the UN, she was the Head of the International Studies Centre at the Institute for World Economy and Politics at the First President Foundation, Press Officer of the OSCE Program Office in Nur-Sultan, Press and Information Officer of the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan.


Elnara holds PhD in International Relations (al-Farabi Kazakh National University), MA in Management (University of International Business), BA in International Relations (al-Farabi Kazakh National University). In 2010 graduated the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (Honolulu, USA). In 2019 named the winner of the nation-wide “100 New Faces of Kazakhstan” project.

As part of the media and communications profile, Elnara is the author and TV anchor of several TV projects.

Magnus Magnusson joined UNESCO in 2017 as Director for Partnerships and Outreach in the Human and Social Science Sector and has been appointed as Officer in Charge for the UNESCO Almaty Office as of 1 July 2022.

Prior to joining UNESCO, Magnus held positions as Vice President for Emerging Markets and Sustainability at Eco Capacity Exchange, Head of Government Relations, Northern Europe at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Head of Business Development and External Relations at the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Regional Manager at the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) with responsibility for a USD 150 million infrastructure portfolio in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and Ethiopia. Magnus started his career at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs with desk responsibility for the World Bank, regional development banks, IFAD and micro finance. Thereafter he joined the Nordic Council of Ministers as Senior Advisor for the finance, transport and development cooperation sectors. He also acted as secretary to the Board of Governors of the Nordic Investment Bank, Nordic Development Fund and representative in the Board of the Nordic Project Fund. Hereafter Magnus joined the United Nations Environment Programme/GRID Arendal as Head of the Stockholm Office.

A Swedish citizen, Mr. Magnusson has an academic background in social sciences, business administration and economics and environmental studies from Uppsala University, Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm School of Economics and University of California, Berkeley. He wrote his thesis on microfinance in rural Laos. Magnus is a board member of Stockholm Philanthropy Symposium Foundation.

The Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to Republic of Türkiye Kubanychbek Omuraliev was appointed as the Secretary General of the OTS Secretariat by the Council of Heads of States during Summit of the Organization on 11 November 2022 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Ambassador Omuraliev served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kyrgyz Republic in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Türkiye and Israel, the Permanent Representative of the Kyrgyz Republic to the Commonwealth of Independent States, and has held leadership positions at various departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other state and public structures.

Throughout his career, Mr. Omuraliev has made significant contributions to the social and intellectual advancement process of Kyrgyzstan by fulfilling various social and public positions including the Vice-Chairman of the Federation of Business Circles of the Kyrgyz Republic and the National Coordinator, Advisory group of Secretariat of the Anti-Corruption Network for Economies in Transition (ACN) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Mr. Omuraliev was presented the award "Most Successful Ambassador of 2021" in 2022, "Chingiz Aitmatov" Medal of TURKSOY in 2020, "75th Anniversary Medal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic" in 2019, "Special Medal of the Chingiz Aitmatov International Club" in 2018, "the Certificate of Honor of the Commonwealth of Independent States" in 2017, and the "Certificate of Honor of the Kyrgyz Republic" in 2006.

Bringing over 25 years of diplomatic experience, Kubanychbek Omuraliev has pledged to continue driving the Organization to be innovative and increasingly pertinent for Member and Observer States and make progress on achieving common goals set forth by the Turkic Vision 2040.

Sinem Kara has 13 years of human rights and humanitarian experience at field and HQ-level in sudden on-set emergency, conflict and post-conflict settings. Before she joined as Human Rights Advisor in the UN Kazakhstan, she worked as a human rights investigator at the UN Group of International Eminent Experts on Yemen, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her investigations focused on the use of starvation as a war method, the obstruction of humanitarian assistance and attacks on objects indispensable to the survival of civilian population in Yemen.

Prior to this, she worked initially in Kabul and then in Herat, in the Human Rights Service of the UNAMA. Her work in Afghanistan included the investigations of protection of civilians-related incidents, the elimination of violence against women and girls, preventive detention monitoring and procedural safeguards in the context of detention, as well as human rights aspects of peace and reconciliation process.

From 2017 to 2018, she also worked in the Emergency Response Section of the OHCHR in Geneva, Switzerland, where she effectively supported field presence and respective geographical sections to integrate human rights principles in humanitarian action, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa and Asia-Pacific regions. Also, she was deployed by the OHCHR for a rapid response mission to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh to investigate alleged human rights violations that occurred in north Rakhine, Myanmar. Prior to this, she worked as a humanitarian affairs officer in Erbil, Iraq at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during which she mobilized inter-cluster emergency response for Anbar, Hawiga, Mosul and Ramadi emergencies under its IASC level-3 emergency level.

From 2011 to 2015, she monitored and reported on human rights and democratization related issues in Peje/Pec Regional Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Mission in Kosovo. Prior to her international career, she worked at the Human Rights Association of Turkey and worked on women’s rights and the elimination of sexual- and gender-based violence in Turkey. She obtained her bachelor's degree on International Relations from the Middle East Technical University/ in Turkey, and the master's degree on Human Rights and Democratization from the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights in Italy. She speaks Turkish and English, as well as intermediate French and basic Arabic.

Bigaliyev Marat works for Internews Network in Kazakhstan since 2006, providing support for both broadcast and legal aspects of Internews’ work in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (2006-2009) as the Project Manager. In 2009 he was promoted for the position of Regional Program Officer for Internews programs in Central Asia. He managed a staff of eight Internews program managers and oversaw the work of three subgrantees. Mr. Bigaliyev has been designated as key to the successful completion of the objectives of the 2009-2014 award and approved by USAID for the position of the Kazakhstan Country Program Director in October 2014. In March 2015 Mr. Bigaliyev promoted for the position of Chief of Party for Internews projects in Central Asia.

Prior to working at Internews, Mr. Bigaliyev was a Senior Program Coordinator for International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in Kazakhstan, managing the implementation of a number of voter and civic education projects. He worked as the National Coordinator of the Debate Program for Soros and as a Moderator and Senior Programmer for a news program, on the Regional Television/Radio Company in Semipalatinsk. In total, Mr. Bigaliyev has more than 25 years of experience working on USAID-funded democracy programs in Central Asia. Mr. Bigaliyev received a Master in Public Administration from the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research in 1997.

She actively assists to the government, academia and corporate leaders to implement the strategic ideas, she has got over 10 years of experience in managing FT500 - Microsoft, Ericsson, RELX (Elsevier). And she performs individual assessments and analysis as well as identifies areas of opportunity that can significantly affect the results.

Alia Ospanova has a vast experience in advising educational organizations, from K-12 to the research institutes. Aliya successfully implemented the construction of 2 modern universities and the reconstruction of 34 vocational education facilities in 1 year.

With a bachelor's degree in information technology from the Kazakh-British Technical University with a major in Oil and Gas (2008), a master's degree from Imperial College London (2009), the EMBA from Quantic Business School (2022) and she is currently a DBA candidate at University of Zurich.

Marat Fatkhoulline is a Vice President at Elsevier He works in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, Japan & China establishing international collaborations in science and health. He works with federal and regional government ministers, universities, and funding agencies.

Marat has worked with Elsevier since 2011 and is now Vice President of Global Strategic Networks. Marat has been involved with many successful collaborative projects including developing regional economies through evidence-based partnerships between industry and universities, advising universities’ transformations into an entrepreneurial mode and facilitating the adoption of successful programs to focus and improve research output quality.

Amir Boziev is a winner of various competitions, an attendee and a moderator of a technical panel discussion in Singapore and San Francisco (at Blockchain Economic Forum), a graduate of GameThinking academy (California) of IT products design and experienced software engineer.

During the last five years of his career, he researched the area of data delivery without a trusted third party, such as Telegram, Google or Facebook. The Web3 Foundation backed his research, and as a result, a protocol appeared that allows a social interaction of a new type. Imagine that instead of one Facebook for all of us, every user will have a copy of a social network based on an opensource code. A decentralised network, similar to popular blockchain platforms like Bitcoin or Ethereum, will handle an information exchange. Such mechanics excludes blocking certain content and news feed manipulation by AI and news algorithms. In other words, for the first time in history, we will have media platforms that no one can control.

As a fan of hackathons and a member of the national hackathon team at MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology), Amir Boziev participated in more than 30 hackathons, including Junction where we hacked the hackers (https://telegra.ph/Junction-2019-phishing-attack-explained-11-21). In 12 months, his team won many international tournaments in Boston, Frankfurt, Seoul and other cities worldwide.

At this point in his career, Amir Boziev is on his way to becoming a tech entrepreneur. With that in mind he enrolled to study at the Department of Technological Entrepreneurship at The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in September 2022.

Dmitry Istomin is a Vice-president for business development at a famous Alemira Group. He is engaged in the use and application of artificial intelligence and computer vision technologies in various industries – security, medicine, education.

From 2015, Dmitry is founder and CEO of the company Examus, which is well known for its implementation of artificial intelligence and face recognition in education and examining. Starting from 2006 up to 2017 Dmitry Istomin was a Director of business development of Ural Security Systems Center (USSC, Russia), which is specialized in providing services in consulting, design, implementation, and support solutions to ensure information security for banks, telecom operators, government organizations, enterprises, industry, and others.

PhD. Moldiyar Yergebekov, a graduate of the Khoja Ahmet Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University (1996-2000) and the faculty of radio-television-cinema of Ankara University (2000-2010). After completing his PhD with a thesis on the role of Kazakh cinema in the nation-state building process, he worked at several Universities: Temirbek Jurgenov National Academy of Fine Arts, Kyrgyzstan-Turkey Manas University, University of Utah, Gaziantep University and Almaty Management University (ALMAU). Currently he is an associate professor of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi IKTU. Also he is a host of TV Program Sana (Abai TV & Qazaqstan TV).

He has several publications on critical theory, film and media studies, national cinema, political economy of Kazakhstani media, gender, and public sphere. His teaching experience, research, presentations, and publications point out three major tendencies: Social theory, media studies and film studies.

At the age of 18, Ernist Umetaliyev opened his own recording studio "Ekarecords". In 17 years, the studio has turned into a big label – producing artists, organizing various concerts and tours, recording albums, making video clips with the participation of the country’s best performers.

In 2013, the first musical film "С + F" was produced by the label "Ekarecords". The film became a hit in many Central Asian countries. Cover versions of the film's soundtracks were released by performers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and others.

The studio’s track record includes many other films. Thus, in 2017, "Ekarecords" studio recorded the musical album “Spite of Fate” for the song of Almazbek Atambayev. The studio also made and released two music videos for songs from the album.

In 2019, Ernist Umetaliyev created the kids musical group D Billions on YouTube. To date, there are 13 DBillions channels on YouTube in different languages. All new songs are also released on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, Yandex.Music, VKontakte and TikTok platforms. The main channel in English has over 23 million subscribers and over 25 billion views.

She heads partnership development and charitable activities at QS, the company behind the QS World University Rankings®.

Prior to this, she served for over a decade as a Regional Director for Eastern Europe & Central Asia, consulting universities and governments on developing international competitiveness & engagement strategies. Originally from the region, she made it her mission to spotlight local universities to the world, to help them gain visibility through university rankings and other initiatives.

She is an innovator with a keen interest in social impact with over 20 years of experience in global partnerships and reputation management. Zoya is a member of several youth- and education-focused organizations, including QS World Merit Charity.

A recognized international speaker and moderator with a passion for Sustainable Development Goals, she now focuses on developing experiential learning programs for universities and matching organizations with Higher Education Partners. As a secretary of the UN PRME Working Group on Climate Change & Environment, Zoya runs Climate Literacy & Action Training for educators, communities, organizations and students (CLT-ECOS) - a winner of the Reimagine Education Award in the Sustainability category in 2021. Zoya’ area of expertise includes partnership development, internationalization, student recruitment and brand building for educational institutions

Mr. Hikmet Çetin is a politician, statesman and an ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, was born in 1937 in Diyarbakır, Turkey. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Ankara, with a B.A. degree in economics and finance in 1960. After his graduation, he joined the State Planning Organization in 1960, where he assumed the position of Head of Economic Planning Department until 1977. Mr Çetin conducted further studies, mostly in the USA and received his M.A. degree with a thesis on “Economics of Development”. Later on, he worked on “planning models” at Stanford University, California, USA.


His political career started after his election to the Parliament in 1977 as a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP). He was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister in 1978. In 1997, he was re-elected to the Parliament from the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP). Minister Çetin worked at various executive levels within SHP, including the post of the Secretary General. In 1991, he was re-elected to the Parliament and then served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the two coalition Governments between 1991 and 1994.

At the merger of CHP and SHP under the name of CHP, Mr. Hikmet Çetin was elected as the Chairman of CHP by the Joint Convention of both Parties. He was once again appointed as the Minister of State and Deputy Prime Minister in 1995. In the 1995 general elections, Mr. Çetin retook his seat in the Parliament and was elected as the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly in October 1997.

On 19 November 2003, Mr. Hikmet Çetin was appointed as the NATO Senior Civilian Representative for Afghanistan and served in Kabul from January 2004 to August 2006.

British actor, director, founder of the annual day of global ceasefire and a non-profit project "Peace One Day" (from 1999, USA).

Thanks to his project, the war in Afghanistan was stopped for 1 day, and September 21 was adopted as the International Day of Peace at the UN General Assembly in 2001.
Gilley and Peace One Day ambassador actor Jude Law spearheaded a campaign in Afghanistan that resulted in providing polio vaccination to 4.5 million children who otherwise would have been unreachable because of the war raging there.

An analysis carried out by international management consultant McKinsey & Co in 2016 revealed that awareness of Peace One Day had reached up to 2.2 billion people (30% of the world's population) and estimated that, as a result, 21 million of those aware behaved in a more peaceful way. Jeremy's goal is for the campaign to reach 3 billion people.

In 2018 Jeremy launched Impact Profile, an application that provides a central destination for individuals wishing to measure and showcase their social contribution and impact, thereby inspiring others to do the same.

He is the author of the children's book The Making of World Peace Day, illustrated by Pulitzer Prize winner Karen Blessen.

Jeremy Gilley received the Lennon-Ono Grant for Peace, the Carnegie-Waterler Peace Prize (awarded by the Dutch Carnegie Endowment).

Ekaterina Abramova graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Lomonosov Moscow State University with a degree in Russian Language and Literature in 1993. She started her career as a correspondent for an information service at the “Mir” Interstate TV and Radio Company.

Understanding the specifics of the socio-political processes taking place in the post-Soviet space, professionalism and authority in the workforce allowed her to become the head of the Information Service of the TV channel in 2003, and in 2006 - Deputy Chairman of the “Mir” TV and Radio Broadcasting Company. Starting from 2006 to 2022, Ekaterina Abramova held a position of director of the “Mir” TV channel.

For 20 years, Ekaterina Abramova has been the author and host of the information and analytical program “Together” (“Vmeste”). Most of the projects of the MTRK "Mir" are produced under her personal leadership. Some of them are: cycles of documentaries "The Turks of Russia", "The Commonwealth is Us", "Twenty Years Together", "Property of the Republics", "Secrets of Time", multimedia patriotic projects "The Ballad of a Soldier", "Memory Watch", " NO. To Blockade”, “Children of War”, “Road to Berlin”. Ekaterina Abramova interviewed top officials and Heads of the Commonwealth States. Also, by virtue of her leadership the round-the-clock Eurasian information TV channel “MIR 24” was launched in January 2013.

Ekaterina Abramova is a recipient of a number of awards, including a medal of the II degree medal of the order "For Merit to the Motherland" for a great contribution to the development of television and radio broadcasting and years of fruitful activity, a medal of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS Member States and the Interstate Television and Radio Company "Mir" - "The Tree of Friendship".

Mrs. Gunay Afandiyeva was appointed as the president of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation in accordance with the decision adopted on 11 September 2015 in at Astana 5th Summit of the Heads of States of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States.

She held the position of Consul of the Consulate-General of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Istanbul from 2004 to 2008 and the Secretary-General of the National Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan for UNESCO from 2009 to 2015. Her major activities included implementation of several large-scale cultural, educational and scientific programs aimed to promote cooperative relations among peoples across cultures and religions, and building bridges among them.

As the president of the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation G.Afandiyeva participated and gave speeches at several major and significant international events, such as the 5-9th Summits of the Turkic Council, 5-9th Summit of Foreign Ministers of the Turkic Council and other accompanying events; 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, in the framework of which the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation organised round table on “Turkic heritage at the crossroads of cultures and civilizations” topic; 5th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, in the framework of which the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation organised round table on “The Role of Great Silk Road in building dialogue among Turkic speaking countries”; 6th Global Forum; 5th-6th Baku International Humanitarian Forums; 12th session of the General Conference of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO); the UN Alliance Of Civilizations Global Forum; Meetings of UNESCO National Commissions and Committees of TURKSOY member countries; "Heart of Asia" – Istanbul Process 7th Ministerial Conference; The 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement, Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM); Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF); and other wide-ranging events with participation of the high-level government officials, heads of well-known international organisations and diplomatic missions, prominent political, scientific, cultural representatives, and distinguished experts from different parts of the world. Several numbers of conferences, seminars, round tables, exhibitions, concerts and other high-level events and projects, dedicated to protection, study and promotion of rich Turkic culture, history, art, music and heritage at the international level has been organised by the International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation under the presidency of G. Afandiyeva. G.Afandiyeva is the author of many publications and articles published in local and foreign media. She was granted many national and international diplomas, certificates and medals.

Abdullah Gul served as President of Turkey from 2007 to 2014. He previously served as Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkey.

Abdullah Gul maintained a focus on democratic reform. As prime minister and subsequently as foreign minister, Gul pursued a pro-active foreign policy and largely succeeded in striking a balance between Turkey’s traditional Western-anchored foreign policy priorities and its new interests in the Middle East and the Muslim world. His subsequent bid for the Presidency drew strong and highly vocal opposition from ardent supporters of secularism in Turkey and was initially blocked by the Constitutional Court due to concerns over his Islamist political background.

Earlier in his career, Gul worked as an economist at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Saudi Arabia from 1983-91, was elected as an MP for the Welfare Party in 1991 and resigned from his position at IDB. Initially, a member of the Islamist Welfare Party, Gul joined the Virtue Party in 1998 after the latter was banned for antisecular activities. When the party split into hardline Islamist and modernist factions in 2000, Gul joined fellow party member Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in advocating the need for reform and moderation. He co-founded the moderate Justice and Development Party (AKP) with Erdoğan in 2001. He was elected as Turkey’s first Islamist President after the 2007 general election.

A Mongolian politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Mongolia from 2000 to 2004, as Speaker of the Parliament from 2004 to 2005, and as President of Mongolia from 2005 to 2009. He is the first person to have held all of the top three positions in the Mongolian government. He was the chairman of the Mongolian People’s Party from 1997 to 2005 and head of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party from 2010 to 2021. His eldest son, Batshugar Enkhbayar is a member of the State Great Khural from Mongolian People's Party.

In 2010, Enkhbayar established a political party and named it Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. The party received approval to use the previous name of the Mongolian People's Party from the Supreme Court of Mongolia on 26 June 2011. Enkhbayar became the chairman of his established party.

Sultan Raev was born in 1958 in Kyrgyzstan. Mr. Raev graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Kyrgyz State University in 1984. Throughout his career he held various positions, namely Chief Editor of various newspapers, Deputy Minister of Education and Culture of the Kyrgyz Republic and Chairman of the UNESCO National Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic, Advisor to the President of the Kyrgyz Republic and Minister of Culture and Information of the Kyrgyz Republic.

On March 31st, 2022, Mr. Sultan Raev has been unanimously elected as Secretary General of TURKSOY at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Permanent Council of TURKSOY. Prior to his election as Secretary General of TURKSOY, Mr. Sultan Raev served as Deputy Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States.

Mr. Sultan Raev is also one of the well-known authors of Kyrgyzstan and holds the title of People’s Author of the Kyrgyz Republic. Works of Sultan Raev were translated to different languages and were well regarded by readers in Asian and European countries.

Mr. Sultan Raev is a recipient of a number of awards in recognition of his contribution to fostering intercultural exchange and international relations.

Farhad Mammadov graduated from the Faculty of History of the Baku State University. He obtained a Ph.D. from the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.

Mammadov worked in the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. From 2012 to 2019, he was a director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

In 2022, Farhad Mammadov founded the Center for South Caucasus Studies where he holds a position of the director.

Mr. Mammadov is one of the experts of the International Discussion Club "Valdai", an expert of the International Economic Forum and a member of the Astana Club. He is an author of 2 books and more than 200 academic publications.

Kursad Zorlu graduated from Selçuk University, Department of Public Administration, Turkey. He obtained a master's degree in Public Administration and doctorate in management and organization. He was a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina in the USA. in 2013, he became an associate professor in the field of Management and Strategy. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Bozok University, Turkey. He is a Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University.

Kursad Zorlu worked as a columnist in Yeniçağ, Vatan and Habertürk Newspapers in Turkey and as a commentator on TVs. Kürşad Zorlu prepared many books, articles and documentaries on the Turkish World and received many awards in this field. He was appointed as the spokesperson of the IYI Party (The Good Party) and the Chief Advisor to the Chairperson on October 19, 2022.

Medetkhan Sherimkulov graduated from Kyrgyz State University and later completed a postgraduate course at Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Early in career he worked at the Frunze woodworking plant, taught at the Kyrgyz State University. In the period from 1971 to 1990, Medetkhan Sherimkulov held state and party leadership positions, namely Secretary of the Issyk-Kul Regional Party Committee, Head of the Department of Ideology of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kirghiz SSR, Rector of the Kyrgyz Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, Chairman of the Party Control Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan for ideology.

In 1980-1995, Sherimkulov was repeatedly elected a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic, later - the Jogorku Kenesh. In 1990-1995 he was a speaker of the "legendary" parliament and in 1995-1998 he was a professor at the Department of Political Science and Strategic Studies of the Kyrgyz National University. From 1998 to 2002 Mr. Sherimkulov was an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kyrgyzstan to Turkey. Then in 2002-2007 a Professor of the Department of Political Science and Strategic Studies of the Kyrgyz National University. In the period from 2007 to 2012 he was appointed as an Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Iran.

Medetkhan Sherimkulov is one of the founders of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly. He is awarded with the order "Manas" II degree and other awards. In 2022, he was awarded the highest degree of distinction "Kyrgyz Respublikasynyn Baatyry" ("Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic") with the award of a special badge "Ak Shumkar".

Gasan Gasanov was born on October 20, 1940 in Tbilisi in a working-class family. After graduating from the Azerbaijan Polytechnic Institute in 1962, he was in the Komsomol work in Baku: instructor of the Baku City Komsomol Committee; second secretary of the district committee of the Komsomol in Baku; head of the sector of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the SSR of Azerbaijan.


In 1967-1981, he held various positions in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan: instructor, head of a sector, deputy head of a department, first secretary of the Sumgayit City Party Committee, then first secretary of the Kirovabad City Party Committee.


In 1981, Hasanov graduated from the Baku Higher Party School. In the same year, he became secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, and in January 1990 - Сhairman of the Council of Ministers of the SSR of Azerbaijan. After Azerbaijan gained independence, Hasan Hasanov became the first prime minister of an independent republic and held this post until April 1992. In April of the same year, he was appointed Permanent Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the UN.


In 1993, Hasan Hasanov headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2004-2010 – he served as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Hungary. From 2010 to 2021 he was an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Poland.


Hasan Hasanov is an author of the book "National State Views and Activities of Nariman Narimanov" and the play "Letters from Brussels".

Kairat Sarybay graduated from the Leningrad State University after A. Zhdanova in 1988 with major in philology and orientology, extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy of the 1st class. He speaks Kazakh, Russian, English, Turkish, German.

In 1988, he worked as a senior laboratory assistant at the Institute of Uighur Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR. From 1989 to 1991 he was a trainee researcher at the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1991 he became a Second Secretary of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Then starting from 1992 to 1994 he was a Third Secretary of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Turkey, Advisor to the Information and Analytical Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

From 1994 to 1996, Kairat Sarybay was a Second Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Turkey. In 1996, he became Head of the Protocol Service of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1997-1998 was a press secretary - head of the press service of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and from May to October 1998 - a Press Secretary of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Then in 1998-1999, Kairat Sarybay worked as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1999 he became an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Turkey and held the position until 2003. From 2003 to 2007, he was an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Federal Republic of Germany.

In 2007-2008, Mr. Sarybay was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan and a National Coordinator for Cooperation with the European Union. From 2008 to 2010 he was appointed as an Assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From September 2010 to February 2014, he was a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In February 2014, he was appointed as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to Austria and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan to international organizations in Vienna.

Since August 2014 Mr. Sarybay is an Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Slovenia.

Mr. Sarybay contributed to work on books: "Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (as a compiler), "Astana - the music of life" (as an editor-in-chief), "Kazakhstan - the heart of Eurasia" (as a member of the editorial board). He is also an author of scientific and popular science articles on ancient Turkic philology, articles on topical issues of international politics "Kazakhstan and the countries of the world."

Dyusen Kaseinov graduated from the Almaty Conservatory after Kurmangazy, as well as the Moscow Conservatory after P. Tchaikovsky. He is Professor, speaks Spanish and English.

Mr. Kaseinov is a Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the republican non-profit project "Asyl Mura", president of the humanitarian fund "Degdar".

From September 2003 to September 2004 he headed the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Later he served as an Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2004-2005 and as a Special Representative of the Republic of Kazakhstan for cultural and humanitarian cooperation in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2005-2008.


Dyusen Kaseinov was the Secretary General of TURKSOY from May 2008 to 2022.