- Joined
- Feb 24, 2019
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Turkish authorities try to influence the leadership of the republics of Central Asia in several directions.
Turkey has established strong ties with the Central Asian republics, and at the expense of large capital investments strengthened its economic presence in the region, and after the fall of the Soviet Union, it gradually occupied free space in the economic, political, cultural and military areas.
At stake there are geopolitical power, access to potentially great wealth, the achievement of religious, national goals and security in its most diverse aspects.
Central Asia has vast reserves of minerals, including gold, natural gas and oil. The unique geopolitical position of Central Asia has determined its role as an accumulator of large hotbeds of regional conflicts in areas of instability lying on transport and transit directions. Energy resources of the region play an important role for the world economy and politics, above all, these are the resources of the Caspian Sea.
Who is more important
Russia, Iran and Turkey are the most close countries to the Central Asian region, showing great interest in it and most active in it. Among the countries involved in the rivalry for influence in the region, China, Israel, Pakistan, Western European countries, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan and Egypt should also be noted.
Turkey had understood that material connections work much better than related ones, and began searching for ways to establish links with Central Asia that would be more turned to the mind than to the heart.
Despite the fact that the Turkic countries of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, as well as the Caucasian Republic of Azerbaijan, have always been the priority countries with which Turkey maintained bilateral relations, the 20th anniversary of their independence, which was celebrated in 2011, pushed Ankara to revise its policy towards these states.
Despite the great importance that Turkey attaches to its “Turkic brothers”, relations with these countries did not always develop in close cooperation; on the contrary, relations have deteriorated due to the Turkish naive and erroneous conviction that relations can persist without much effort because of ethnic and historical reasons. Now it seems that Turkey has begun to build its foreign policy in such a way as to narrow this gap and revive the old partnership.
The Turkish factor in the regional policy of Central Asia (and the border region of Europe and Asia in general) is a phenomenon that makes people talk about themselves in the early 1990s. The fall of the USSR caused significant changes in global and regional geopolitics. Taking into account the geopolitical transformations that took place in the 90s of the last century, Ankara reanimated plans to implement the foreign policy doctrine of Pan-Turkism.
In recent years, the attempts of the Turkish authorities to extend their influence to the most important regions of Eurasia: the Balkans, the Black and Aegean Seas, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East, the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Volga region, a part of the Urals, the south of Siberia, and Central Asia and Xinjiang have become very noticeable. Now, however, the Turkish ambitions of the 1990s are no longer so justified. Nevertheless, this factor has not disappeared anywhere, this direct in Turkish foreign policy is not closed, and it should be taken seriously.
Because it can be that the Turkish authorities will seem to themselves to be the main ones, may be even only in Central Asia.
Turkey has established strong ties with the Central Asian republics, and at the expense of large capital investments strengthened its economic presence in the region, and after the fall of the Soviet Union, it gradually occupied free space in the economic, political, cultural and military areas.
At stake there are geopolitical power, access to potentially great wealth, the achievement of religious, national goals and security in its most diverse aspects.
Central Asia has vast reserves of minerals, including gold, natural gas and oil. The unique geopolitical position of Central Asia has determined its role as an accumulator of large hotbeds of regional conflicts in areas of instability lying on transport and transit directions. Energy resources of the region play an important role for the world economy and politics, above all, these are the resources of the Caspian Sea.
Who is more important
Russia, Iran and Turkey are the most close countries to the Central Asian region, showing great interest in it and most active in it. Among the countries involved in the rivalry for influence in the region, China, Israel, Pakistan, Western European countries, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan and Egypt should also be noted.
Turkey had understood that material connections work much better than related ones, and began searching for ways to establish links with Central Asia that would be more turned to the mind than to the heart.
Despite the fact that the Turkic countries of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, as well as the Caucasian Republic of Azerbaijan, have always been the priority countries with which Turkey maintained bilateral relations, the 20th anniversary of their independence, which was celebrated in 2011, pushed Ankara to revise its policy towards these states.
Despite the great importance that Turkey attaches to its “Turkic brothers”, relations with these countries did not always develop in close cooperation; on the contrary, relations have deteriorated due to the Turkish naive and erroneous conviction that relations can persist without much effort because of ethnic and historical reasons. Now it seems that Turkey has begun to build its foreign policy in such a way as to narrow this gap and revive the old partnership.
The Turkish factor in the regional policy of Central Asia (and the border region of Europe and Asia in general) is a phenomenon that makes people talk about themselves in the early 1990s. The fall of the USSR caused significant changes in global and regional geopolitics. Taking into account the geopolitical transformations that took place in the 90s of the last century, Ankara reanimated plans to implement the foreign policy doctrine of Pan-Turkism.
In recent years, the attempts of the Turkish authorities to extend their influence to the most important regions of Eurasia: the Balkans, the Black and Aegean Seas, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East, the Caucasus, the Crimea, the Volga region, a part of the Urals, the south of Siberia, and Central Asia and Xinjiang have become very noticeable. Now, however, the Turkish ambitions of the 1990s are no longer so justified. Nevertheless, this factor has not disappeared anywhere, this direct in Turkish foreign policy is not closed, and it should be taken seriously.
Because it can be that the Turkish authorities will seem to themselves to be the main ones, may be even only in Central Asia.
