Askhat Kessikbayev was born in 1975 in the city of Balkhash, Kazakhstan. After graduating from the Faculty of Economy of the Anadolu University, he completed his Master’s Degree in 2001 at the Institute of Social Science of the same university with a thesis on the “Geo-Economic Transformation in Central Asia: Kazakhstan Oil and Aktau-Baku-Ceyhan Oil Route.” He got his Ph.D. in International Relations in 2007 at Marmara University with a thesis titled “The Geopolitics of Eurasia in the Post–Cold War Period: Structural Transformation in Central Asia.

Over the years, he has worked as an expert in research centers and is the author of many scientific articles. He has been working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 2007, including the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Republic of Türkiye. Since November 2022, by the decision of the Scientific Council of Turkic Academy, he has been appointed as Vice-President of the Turkic Academy. Askhat Kessikbayev speaks Kazakh, Turkish, English, and Russian.

Prof. Dr. Bülent Bayram was born in Adana, Türkiye, on August 1, 1976. He graduated from the Faculty of Education, Department of Turkish Language at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in 1999. In 2001, he began his academic career as a research assistant at Celal Bayar University. He completed his MA in Turkish Language and Literature (Folklore) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Fikret Türkmen with a thesis on the epic Alankay Batır.

Supported by a grant from the Foundation for Turkic World Research, he conducted field studies in Tatarstan and Chuvashia in 2004, acquiring proficiency in Chuvash, Tatar, and Bashkir in addition to Russian. He earned his PhD in Turkic Folklore at Ege University, focusing on Chuvash heroic narratives.

He has served at Kırklareli University since 2010, becoming Associate Professor in 2013 and Professor in 2019. Between 2020–2024, he was Director of the Turkology Research Institute at Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University in Kazakhstan.

Since October 2025, he has been serving as Vice-President of the Turkic Academy. Prof. Bayram is fluent in Russian and proficient in English, Hungarian, Kazakh, Tatar, and Chuvash. He has authored and translated several books and numerous articles on Turkic oral literature and folklore.