During the 13th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Ankara, Kyrgyzstan's president Sadyr Japarov joined other member-state leaders for a walk through the Beştepe Turkic States Civilization Park — and the visit offered a tidy snapshot of how the Turkic world presents its shared culture to visitors.
The park, located in Ankara's Beştepe district near the presidential complex, gathers artworks and national installations from each OTS member, arranged along an alley that walks you through the traditions, lifestyles and historical heritage of the Turkic peoples. It's essentially a compressed tour of half a dozen national identities in one place — handy for anyone who wants a feel for Central Asia and its neighbours without boarding five flights.
Kyrgyzstan's contribution is a sculpture called Murasker, which translates as Heritage. It shows a young hunter carrying on his father's legacy: the ancient art of hunting with a golden eagle. The piece packs in the essentials of Kyrgyz nomadic tradition — the eagle itself, standing for freedom and spiritual elevation; the taigan, a native Kyrgyz sighthound that has accompanied steppe hunters for centuries; and a bow, representing discipline and skill. Eagle hunting (salburun) is one of Kyrgyzstan's most iconic cultural practices, and travellers can still see it demonstrated today, particularly around Lake Issyk-Kul and in the eastern regions, where eagle hunters — many of them continuing family lines exactly like the one the sculpture depicts — put on demonstrations and, in some cases, host visitors for multi-day experiences.
After touring the alley, the leaders and their spouses posed for a group photo and took part in a tree-planting ceremony, the kind of low-key symbolism these summits specialise in. But for travellers, the real takeaway is the park itself: a free-to-wander outdoor collection that makes a worthwhile detour if you're in Ankara between museum visits. It also works as a scouting trip — if one country's installation catches your eye, that's a decent signal for where to plan your next trip across the steppe.
For the culture-curious traveller, this story lands in a sweet spot. Ankara is often skipped in favour of Istanbul or Cappadocia, yet it holds the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Atatürk's mausoleum and now this pan-Turkic showcase. And if the Murasker sculpture does its job, the logical next step is Kyrgyzstan itself — a country with world-class trekking, yurt stays and one of the few places on earth where eagle hunting remains a living, passed-down tradition. The summit may have been diplomacy, but the park is a genuinely useful map of where to go next.
