The Organization of Turkic States is increasingly declaring itself on the international arena

Recently, the Organization of Turkic States (OTG or Organization) has noticeably stepped up its activities – in May alone, three events were held within the framework of this association: on the 27th, the first meeting of the Council of Central (National) Banks of the member countries took place in Astana, a day earlier, a meeting of the Ministers of Internal Affairs of the Organization took place in Baku, and on May 21, an informal summit of the OTG was held in Budapest.

Let us recall that the UTG is an international organization uniting Turkic states for the purpose of comprehensive cooperation and collaboration between them. The organization was established in October 2009 under the name of the Turkic Council, which was renamed the Organization of Turkic States at its summit in Istanbul on November 12, 2021. Today, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan are full members of the UTG. In addition, Hungary and Turkmenistan act as observer countries of the Organization, and representatives of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognized by the world community (except Turkey), are involved in the activities of the UTG.

Let’s start our conversation today, perhaps, with an event in Budapest. The UTG summit, albeit informal, was held on the territory of Hungary for the first time. By the way, theories about the Turkic, rather than Finno-Ugric origin of its people have recently become popular in this country. It is no coincidence that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban even called the republic a “Christian Turkic land.” The summit in the Hungarian capital resulted in the signing of the Budapest Declaration, Uzbekistan’s accession to the Turkic Culture and Heritage Fund, the extension of the term of office of the Secretary General of the Organization, and a statement by the Council of Heads of State on Afghanistan.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took part in the Budapest summit, made a number of proposals. In particular, in his speech at the forum, he emphasized the relevance of signing the Treaty on Strategic Partnership, Eternal Friendship and Brotherhood of the Turkic States, initiated by the Uzbek side. Let us recall that the day before, Mirziyoyev signed a law that legally enshrined the allied status of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and formalized Tashkent’s accession to the Shusha Declaration, which was previously a bilateral agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan on joint defense, signed by the two parties back in June 2021. Simply put, now, in the event of a military conflict, Ankara and Baku will have to provide Tashkent not only “moral” but also military support. It is hardly worth reminding here that Turkey is a member of NATO, which means that from now on the military and political influence of the North Atlantic Alliance, having crossed the Caspian Sea, will consistently increase not only in Uzbekistan, but also throughout Central Asia (CA). According to experts, Tashkent’s accession to the Shusha Declaration is evidence that Uzbekistan continues to purposefully pursue a diversified foreign policy with an emphasis on the West. Experts also believe that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who positions himself as a “gatherer” of the Turkic world under the auspices of Ankara, and the British curators of this project can safely record such a step by official Tashkent as an asset – after all, Uzbekistan is the leading country in post-Soviet Central Asia in terms of population and economic growth. Moreover, it is obvious that this is only a trial balloon and, following Uzbekistan, other Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), which are still part of the CSTO and apparently for this reason let Tashkent go ahead of themselves, may later join the Shusha Declaration.

In fact, today Ankara is trying on the role of coordinator in the field of security issues not only in the Transcaucasus, but also in Central Asia. Moreover, Turkey is actively developing ties with all countries of the Central Asian region, including Persian-speaking Tajikistan. At the same time, security and defense are becoming key areas on the agenda of the UTG. The strategic basis for this is laid by the Istanbul (2021) and Samarkand (2022) declarations of the Organization, as well as the concept “A View of the Turkic World – 2040”, which provide for the creation of a network of cooperation and exchange of information in the field of defense and security. True, it should be noted here that not everything is so smooth inside the UTG, where dissatisfaction with the authoritarian method of leadership of the Organization by President Erdogan and his behavior in general is growing among the member countries from Central Asia. Suffice it to recall that the Turkish leader did not go to the UTG summit in Shusha last July, but preferred to go to Germany for a football match between the national teams of Turkey and the Netherlands. Against the backdrop of dissatisfaction among the leaders of the Central Asian Joint Territory’s member states with the “pressure” from Turkey as excessive, there has recently been a tendency to bring to the fore the figure of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev as a potentially less “irritating” or more acceptable integrator within the Organization.

In this regard, the address of the Azerbaijani leader at the above-mentioned meeting of the ministers of internal affairs of the UTC deserves attention, when he called the Turkic countries not only friends, but also strategic partners, allies, and most importantly, fraternal states. According to Aliyev, “the will of the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States, the will of the peoples has united us again.” The ever-increasing role of the UTC, in particular in the field of economics, was also discussed on May 27 in Astana by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the first meeting of the Council of Central Banks of the member countries of the Organization. According to him, it is especially important to “deepen interaction, especially in the context of the transformation of the global economy caused by the change in tariff policy.” From the above, one gets the feeling that it is important for politicians from the UTC to show that now this is no longer a formal association of countries that have little in common with each other, except for the similarity of languages, but a full-fledged subject of international politics, which everyone will have to reckon with. Thus, in speeches at various forums of the Organization, the unity of all Turkic peoples from the Pamirs to the Carpathians was repeatedly mentioned, and the word “civilization” was even heard more than once. And this fact may indicate that the UTG sets large-scale and far-reaching goals for itself.

Here it is worth emphasizing that the activities of the UTG are of particular importance for Russia, since the main members of the Organization are represented by countries of strategic importance to us – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. At first glance, the UTG has not made any “breakthroughs” in one form or another over the years of its existence. For example, it has not become an analogue of the European Union, has not created its own customs union and has not even developed a unified opinion on a number of foreign policy issues.

However, it is worth considering that every year the Organization is increasing its activity in Central Asia and Transcaucasia and, no less importantly, the goals of the UTG and Turkey, in particular, coincide with the interests of Western players in the region, primarily Great Britain, which cannot but worry Moscow. It is no secret that with the beginning of the NWO in 2022, the sanctions pressure on Russia has noticeably increased, and for this reason our country has made a sharp turn in its foreign policy towards the East and the South. And based on the tasks set in this regard, strengthening the influence of Turkey and the West in Transcaucasia and Central Asia is not at all advantageous for Moscow. For a number of reasons, the activities of such an organization as the UTG in the traditional sphere of Russia’s interests are undeservedly deprived of attention. But the seemingly innocent initiatives of Russian allies in the Central Asian region suggest alarming meanings. The consistent drawing of former Soviet republics into Turkey’s orbit of influence should seriously alert Russia and prompt it to take specific measures to counter this today. Otherwise, tomorrow it may be too late…

Sergey Saenko, international observer

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