TURKPULSE No:63..........FEBRUARY 11th, 2002
Turkey
will promote economic cooperation in Eurasia by building in this region the
developed highway and railway systems of Western Europe and through the toil
of “Kobi”s (small- and
medium-size industries) in the region. This will ensure direct contacts
among the peoples of Eurasia for creating a commonwealth of nations of
economic integrity and interdependence as is the case with the European
Union, says President Sezer, reflecting Turkey’s “State policy”
elaborated upon by the NSC (National Security Council). How compatible this
policy is with Washington’s global designs is the question in
Turkish-American relations on the eve of Vice-President Dick Cheney’s
forthcoming tour of this region including Turkey and in the aftermath of the
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s answer to PM Ecevit about the American
intention to hit Iraq.
Turkey’s
“State policy” for the Caucasus and Gulf regions, in particular, and for
the entire geography where it is located is to have developed and
sophisticated transport and communication networks as is seen in Western
Europe today. Last September President Ahmet Necdet Sezer went all the way
to Kars, one of the eastern most provinces of Turkey on the Georgian
frontier, to personally launch this policy, which Pulse
has long been forecasting.
The
President calls for West European communication for the Caucasus
Addressing
the panel entitled, “The Kars meeting of the Union of Historic Cities”
on September 21st, 2001 President Sezer said:
“Turkey
wants an atmosphere of peace and stability to reign throughout the Caucasus.
We believe that this strategic region, which has fertile lands, dynamic
manpower and which links Asia and Europe, will play an important role in the
future as it did in the past.
“We
want this geography where the peoples belonging to various religions and
communities coexisted and established deep-rooted civilisations throughout
centuries will be a region where the people can again move freely and where,
in mutual solidarity, they will raise their living standards. We envisage
that achieving in Caucasus an economic integration by establishing developed
highway and railway networks that ensure an uninterrupted flow of passengers
and commodities, as is the case in western Europe today, and by establishing
international energy pipelines based on common benefit between the Caspian
basin and Europe, we will be able to bring about a commonwealth of nations
in interdependence. In this context, it is gratifying that the countries of
South Caucasus are rapidly bringing to life western democratic institutions
and norms as well as maintaining a close cooperation with the relevant
European organisations.
“It
is a fact that establishing the conditions of regional cooperation by
ensuring the foundation of an atmosphere of peace and stability will
contribute to the enlivenment of the economies of our north-eastern
provinces. The consolidation of cooperation among the Caucasus countries by
normalising conditions and relations will tightly unite these countries.
“The
precondition of the realisation of all these is certainly the solution of
the uncertainty and discords in Caucasus. Turkey is effectively contributing
to the efforts exerted for the solution of regional disputes.
“In
these efforts for solution, we stress on every occasion that the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of our neighbours, Georgia and Azerbaijan, should
be preserved and that solutions ignoring these principles cannot be
realistic.” President
Sezer’s carefully worded statement in Kars last September is a good
indicator of what Turkey’s Caucasus policy is – peace and cooperation in
the region. It is also indicative of what to expect of Turkey in the near
future for the realisation of this policy – establishment of developed
transport and communication networks in and around Caucasus. The instrument
to facilitate this cooperation is small and medium enterprises called “KOBI”s
in Turkish. These small businesses, rather than big capital investments by
Turkey, will promote people to people contacts and mutual understanding,
thus basing this cooperation on sound foundations.
Small
businesses with Eurasian republics will encourage direct contacts
That
is why the economic cooperation in this region will emphasise small business
in accordance with Turkey’s State policy and it is also the policy of the
other big power of the region, the Russian Federation. The vital Blue Steam
project is advancing with leaps and bounds to open a new page in
Turkish-Russian relations. Energy Minister Zeki Cakan has revealed that as
of January 27th, the 400 km natural gas pipeline from under the
Black Sea had reached 324 km from the Russian coast and passed through the
deepest parts of the seabed. By all indications, the project that had been
planned to go into operation in October 2001 will start with only 3-4 months
delay and it is a phenomenal achievement for such a big and difficult
investment, especially given the fact that the United States did all in its
power to prevent the realisation of this strategic project for
understandable reasons.
The
problem in the new era will be the imbalance in foreign trade between the
two big countries of the region. The trade balance is already heavily in
favour of Russia and after the Blue Stream goes into operation this
imbalance will be sharpened if effective measures are not taken now.
If
one of the instruments envisaged for the rectification of this shortfall is
tourism, the other is the encouragement of Turkish KOBIs’ investments in
the Russian Federation with its autonomous regions, especially the Islamic
ones.
That
is why the latest joint business council meeting between Turkey and the
Russian Federation was held in Kazan, the capital of the Tataristan
Autonomous Republic at the beginning of November 2001. A number of decisions
were taken about promoting Turkey’s exports to federated or autonomous
regions of Russia, as well as the Russian Federation.
The
President of Tataristan, Mintimer Shamiyev, has a villa in Kiris, Antalya
very close to the Pulse office
and during his vacation last summer he held an audience with President Sezer
on September 26th, 2001. The outcome was a number of decisions to
gain momentum to economic, trade and cultural relations between Turkey and
Tataristan, as part of the expanding Turkish-Russian mutual trade. Turkish
KOBIs will be encouraged in these regions, according to these decisions.
There
are similar developments with the newly independent States of the former
Soviet Union. The President of Kazakhstan has an official presidential
summer residence by the sea in Kemer, Antalya and a huge resting and therapy
centre for the Kazakh people is opening in May next to this residence. All
the resultant investments and activities are part of the efforts to base
Turkey’s Eurasia policies on people to people contacts in order to
institutionalise and perpetuate this cooperation, as is the case with the
European Union.
Big
cooperation in transport around the Black Sea
Naturally
the prerequisite of a massive regional trade among these countries is the
development of the transport and communication networks. Turkey and Russia
took a number of decisions in this direction at both their bilateral
economic cooperation meetings and within the multilateral organisations they
both belong to, particularly BSEC (The Black Sea Economic Cooperation) and
TIKA (The Turkish Economic Development Agency) in which the Russian
Federation has also been included with several of its autonomous Turkic
republics. In fact, that is the main reason for Moscow’s decision to
encourage Turkey to promote relations with its Muslim regions through people
to people contacts with KOBI investments. Russia was an active participant
of the First Eurasia KOBI Conference held in Bishkek between June 23rd
and 26th under the auspices of TIKA, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. In
addition to six Turkic Republics (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan,
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan) and a 60-strong Turkish delegation,
the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia also attended this
first conference.
Turkey was the term chairman of BSEC between April and October 2001. Foreign Minister Ismail Cem pledged, during the ceremony to take over the duty from his Russian counterpart at the fourth ministerial council of BSEC in Moscow on April 27th, 2001, “In its term, Turkey will try to give a spur to the Land-Sea Transport Corridor project by linking BSEC countries’ highway, railway and maritime networks.”
Pursuant
to this promise, Turkey summoned in Istanbul in June three BSEC working
groups: 1) The Transport working group, 2) The Trade and Economic
Development working group and 3) The Organisational Topics working group.
The
outcome of these committees’ work was the draft agreement for visa
facilities to businessmen of member countries, the Model to Facilitate Trade
Among BSEC Countries and a program for speeding up the Black Sea Ring
Corridor. Economic cooperation among the members through KOBIs and the
Integration of Regional Trade were among the resolutions adopted.
During
the official visit of the Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, to Ankara
on 7-8 June 2001, the Foreign Ministries of the two countries decided to
establish a working group to assess ”the perspectives for the
Turkish-Russian cooperation in the Eurasian geography” and to prepare
proposals on this topic.
As
these decisions called for cooperation between Turkey and several federated
States and autonomous regions of the Russian Federation, as well as with the
Federal Government, the President of the Northern Osetiya-Alaniya Republic,
A.S. Dzasohov, paid an official visit to Turkey between June 24th
and 26th, 2001 to discuss concrete results for promoting
bilateral trade and cooperation between Turkey and Russia.
The
second meeting of the working group for the bilateral Turkish-Russian
cooperation in the Eurasia geography was held in Ankara on September 10th
with particular attention to promoting transport and communication
networks. It was followed by a meeting in Istanbul on September 27th
of small industry ministers of the BSEC and they issued a declaration
entitled “KOBIs at the outset of the 21st century”.
Agreement
for big cooperation in highway transport within BSEC
The
outcome of all these activities during FM Cem’s six-month chairmanship of
BSEC was concluding an agreement for “The Project for International
Cooperation for Highway Transport in the Black Sea Region” (BSEC-URTA).
This agreement signed at the First International Transport Forum in Istanbul
on October 25th, 2001 by 11 countries aims at achieving an
integrated highway network for the Black Sea region. Transport-Communication
Minister Oktay Vural said at the signature ceremony that the new
organisation would increase the competitive power of the member countries
and give a boost to highway transport cooperation. On the same day Istanbul
also hosted the Trans-Eurasia Second Transport and Logistics Convention.
All
these activities for the promotion of an integrated transport network system
in Turkey’s region is coinciding with the American intention to hit Iraq
militarily and prevent the building of a second highway transport network
between Turkey and Iraq. In March The U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney will
visit Ankara along with the other capitals of the region and Secretary of
State Colin Powell has just said that United States will hit Iraq alone if
necessary.
According
to the world media, President Saddam Hussein’s answer to PM Ecevit about
allowing the UN inspectors in his country is negative. It is claimed that
under the conditions Turkey has given up opposing the prospective American
military operation on Iraq, but all these are press speculations if not
disinformation. The reality is that Turkey has not abandoned its hope of
preventing a hot war in the region by bringing Baghdad to accepting the UN
resolutions and that Saddam’s answer to Ecevit contains some signs of
flexibility about it. Turkey continues to strictly follow its policy of
keeping the hot war away from its immediate frontiers and to make incursions
in Northern Iraq to this end, if necessary (Issue
No: 60).
How
compatible these latest developments over Iraq with Turkey’s feverish
activities to promote the transport networks of the region is another
question. On February 18th an American congressmen’s delegation
will come to Ankara to make soundings about Turkey’s Iraq policy on the
eve of Cheney’s visit. It is hoped that the long-term multinational
transport cooperation activities will not be harmed by the American designs
for this region. uras@ada.net.tr,
February 11th, 2002