Multipolarity and Connectivity
Turkish Challenge in Central Asia

By promoting the idea of a shared past helps to establish relationships in completely different areas. Turkey is penetrating into the areas of defence, energy and culture, becoming a real counterweight to Russia, Anna Machina writes.

Over the past years, Turkey has been successfully fostering unity among Turkic-speaking peoples, and receiving economic and political dividends. The Central Asian states gained independence more than thirty years ago and the region has largely remained outside the field of vision of the Western powers, which recognise it as being within Russia’s sphere of influence. However, this region has great mineral resources and infrastructure potential, which makes it a testing ground for diplomatic battles involving new political players. Obviously, now it is the perfect time to redistribute spheres of influence in this region, because Russia is busy addressing the Ukraine crisis, and the majority of the population of Central Asia is a generation that grew up after the fall of the Soviet Union and is free of its cultural influence. Thanks to this, Turkey has an undeniable advantage there, which it certainly uses. Thus, promoting the idea of a shared past helps to establish relationships in completely different areas. Turkey is penetrating into the areas of defence, energy and culture, becoming a real counterweight to Russia. The Turkish defence industry is rapidly gaining a dominant position in the growing Central Asian drone market. In 2022, Kazakhstan signed a memorandum with Turkey on military-technical cooperation with Turkish Aerospace; the assembly and maintenance of Anka attack UAVs will begin in the near future. Kyrgyzstan has purchased Turkish-made Akıncı and Aksungur drones, while Turkmenistan has opted for Bayraktar drones. The Uzbek army already has Bayraktar TB-2 operational-tactical UAVs in service. It is obvious that drones for the countries of Central Asia are becoming an object of increasing interest.

Turkey is also realizing its role as a peacemaker in the region, making efforts to facilitate an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border. Turkey is interested in stability and security in the region, as it plans to expand comprehensive economic cooperation with the countries of Central Asia. At the end of 2023, trade turnover between Turkey and Kazakhstan reached a record 6.4 billion USD; trade turnover with Uzbekistan reached $3 billion, with the prospect of reaching $5 billion in the coming years. Turkey is one of the five main trading partners of the Central Asian countries, and for Turkmenistan, Turkey has been the number one exporter in recent years, overtaking the People’s Republic of China.

Asia and Eurasia
Central Asia and the Ukraine Crisis
Timofei Bordachev, Daria Rekeda
Central Asia’s place in the constellation of Russia’s foreign policy interests is determined by its geopolitics, features of the international political architecture and Russia’s wide-ranging and multifaceted ties with the main states in the region. Central Asia is unlike other large parts of the former Soviet Union, such as its European part or South Caucasus. There is not a single Central Asian country for which confl ict with Russia could become a central element of their national foreign policy.
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Turkey has successfully promoted its own multilateral format, the Organisation of Turkic States, which has gradually grown from a platform for dialogue into a full-fledged organisation promoting close cooperation in a wide variety of areas. Turkey has set quite ambitious goals for itself — turning it into a Turkic-speaking analogue of the EU. Turkey seeks to implement the concept of “Great Turan”, uniting the Turkic peoples around itself under the slogan “Many states — one Turkic nation.” A significant milestone was the adoption of the Concept of the Turkic World until 2024, which ensures the unity of the Turkic world in all areas: from the alphabet and conceptual apparatus to interaction in the political and security spheres, economic interaction, transport and customs, in the field of information and communication technologies, energy, tourism, health and environmental protection, and agricultural development. This concept pays special attention to the cultural unity of peoples; the organisation’s tasks will include promoting the idea of a common Turkic heritage shared by the greatest scientists, poets, thinkers and artists. It is planned to hold annual cultural events aimed at bringing these peoples closer together. As part of cooperation in the field of education between the Turkic states, an association of Turkic Universities Union (TURKUNIB) was created with the Orhun Process — an analogue of the Bologna Process in the Turkic world. More than 40 universities interact within this process, exchanging best practices and implementing academic mobility programmes.

In 2022 the “Turkic World” media platform began to function, uniting the news agencies of the Turkic states. This platform is a joint project of the Trend International Information Agency and the Turkish Albayrak media group. The media platform operates in Turkish, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen and Azerbaijani, and news is also published in Russian and English. The main goal is to cover the main events concerning the Turkic states.

The last summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, held in November 2023, outlined the priority areas, which were mentioned in the speeches of the heads of state of members and observers of this Organisation. The first directive is to study the historical past and archives, and identify common historical roots and traditions, focusing on the continuity of the historical past of the Turkic peoples, as well as the formation of a single value field with the help of modern arts, as well as traditional and new media. Another important priority is the standardisation and unification of economic criteria for the unhindered export of goods to the common market and increasing trade turnover, which at the end of 2023 exceeded $22 billion between members of the Organisation. The summit participants welcomed the initiative to create a Turkic World Economic Dictionary to develop academic integration in the field of economic science between the participating countries and observers. The event highlighted the role of the Turkic Investment Fund: the first meeting of the board of directors was subsequently held on May 18, 2024. The fund will become an important financial source for ensuring sustainable economic development and improving the welfare of the Turkic states. The fund was established within the framework of the emergency summit of the Organisation of Turkic States on March 16, 2023. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey are the founding countries. The main activities will cover areas such as renewable energy sources, infrastructure, tourism, IT, agriculture and other important areas. The Turkic Investment Fund plans to provide assistance in creating new jobs and diversifying the economy.

As a result of the tenth summit of the Organisation of Turkic States, 12 documents were signed, which continued the trend towards strengthening cultural cohesion and economic integration.

The motto “Turkic era!” and “Our Unity is Our Strength,” announced at the summit, reflect ambitious plans to realise a “Turkic world from the Adriatic to the Great Wall of China.” Turkey’s task to reach the level of a “supraregional power”, to strengthen its status as an influential and a leading player on the “global chessboard”, is quite feasible precisely by deepening the Turkic vector in Turkey’s foreign policy. All Turkish initiatives in Central Asia are perceived by these countries in a positive way, because the “idea of kinship”, the idea of spiritual and cultural closeness is successfully formed and implanted. Obviously, other players cannot boast of such a resource, which will increase Turkey’s chances to strengthen a foothold in this region.

Russia – Central Asia: No Alternative or Natural Partnership?
On May 14–15, 2024, in Ufa, the very heart of Eurasia, the 4th Central Asian Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club took place. One of the participants lauded it as “a feast of intellectual thought.” We invite our readers to explore what was said, because not all discussions were open to the general public, and the most interesting things happen, as we know, behind closed doors. We will open this door for you.
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Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.