On Thursday, 20 August, a meeting was held at the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan between FTURK Chairman Satybaldy Dauletalin and Olympic champion and freelance adviser to the Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Serik Sapiyev.
The main topic of the discussion was preparations for the first international football tournament of the Organization of Trade Unions of Turkic States, the “Turkic Cup”.
The upcoming tournament, which will take place on 3–4 September in Astana, is expected to bring together national trade union centre teams from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan.
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As Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan will be represented at the tournament by two teams — “Kazakhstan-1” and “Kazakhstan-2”.
“The Federation of Trade Unions has its own football team, which participates in the amateur championship of Astana. We finished fourth in the summer championship and are currently in fifth place. The team consists mainly of young people, so we want to give them an opportunity to compete in such a tournament and gain real experience,” the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan said.
Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized that the tournament is being held on such a scale for the first time.
“For us, it is important that the tournament becomes not simply a sporting competition, but also a platform where representatives of brotherly countries can meet and interact,” said the Chairman of the FTURK.
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During the meeting, Satybaldy Dauletalin spoke about the background to the establishment of the Organization of Trade Unions of Turkic States. According to the FTURK Chairman, several years of negotiations with partner countries preceded the organization’s establishment.
“The most important thing is that we managed to unite and are already actively working together. The organization brings together trade unions from five countries and around 46 million workers. The infrastructure of the organization is gradually being developed. Its headquarters will be located in Ankara. Going forward, we plan to further develop this work and hold joint events in the participating countries,” said Satybaldy Dauletalin, the current Secretary General of the Organization of Trade Unions of Turkic States.
At the same time, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan noted that promoting a healthy lifestyle is part of a broader approach to the quality of working life.
“We want workers to have not only decent wages and safe working conditions, but also opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. The development of mass sports is one of the areas of our work, and we want to create conditions that enable people to engage in sports. The Federation is considering the possibility of establishing its own sports complex,” Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized.
The meeting also covered the main areas of activity of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“Today, around two million people are members of the Federation. Every day, we work to protect the rights and interests of workers. This includes collective agreements, general agreements, occupational safety, wages and work directly at enterprises. Last year was declared the Year of Working Professions, but for us, every day and every year is a year of working professions, because protecting working people is our permanent task,” the Chairman of the FTURK emphasized.
Another area highlighted by Satybaldy Dauletalin was digital transformation.
“The Federation has established a Department of Digital Technologies and set the goal of creating a digital ecosystem by 2030 in order to become closer to trade union members and ordinary workers. People should have access to our solutions and services, and we should be able to interact with them directly,” the FTURK Chairman explained.
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan invited Serik Sapiyev to become an ambassador of the FTURK, to which the Olympic champion agreed.
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“Ultimately, you, as a sports professional, and we, as trade union workers, have the same goal — to improve people’s well-being. Cooperation in the field of sports and healthy lifestyles is also of great importance to us,” Satybaldy Dauletalin noted.
Serik Sapiyev highly appreciated the initiatives of the Federation of Trade Unions and emphasized their importance for promoting healthy lifestyles and teamwork.
“I am ready to be an ambassador. I support the sporting activities of the Federation of Trade Unions. Sporting events for enterprise workers are not only about physical activity, but also an opportunity to strengthen relationships within teams, increase motivation and create an atmosphere of unity,” Serik Sapiyev noted.
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The Olympic champion also emphasized the significance of the “Turkic Cup” itself as a sporting event.
“The upcoming international trade union tournament ‘Turkic Cup’ will become the first major project of a new format of cooperation among workers of the Turkic-speaking states,” Serik Sapiyev said.
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The parties agreed to continue cooperation in the field of sports, promoting healthy lifestyles and developing international contacts.
FTURK Trade Union Communications Centre