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Turkey’s
New Foreign Policy towards the Central Asia & the Lessons of the Past
The end of the Cold War and the
disintegration of the Soviet Union drastically changed the international
environment of Turkey’s foreign and security policy. In this context, the
development of Turkey’s relations with the new republics in Central Asia
became a priority issue for the Turkish diplomacy. Turkey was confronted with a
new Turkic world in Central Asia upon which she wanted to exert influence and
from which she was confronted with certain demands. For the Turkish public, as
well as country’s political elite, the emergence of new independent republics
in what is regarded as the original Turkish homelands was a very welcome
development. Turkey’s relative geopolitical isolation between, on the one
side, the European Union (to which Turkey strongly
want to be member but often was rejected) and, on the other side, the Arab world
(of which the Turks never saw themselves as an integral part and which itself
displayed an attitude of strong reserve towards the Turkish state) all of a
sudden seemed to have come to an end. Furthermore, the low level of economic and
political development of the new republics conveyed to many Turks a general
impression of superiority, while offering Ankara an opportunity to become
a leading actor in post-Soviet Central Asia.
Therefore,
the psychological pre-conditions were produced for high expectations and
unrealistic imaginings by the Turkish public concerning the importance and scope
of Turkey’s relations with the new republics of Central Asia. Most Turkish
politicians, too, were quick to seize the opportunity to paint a bright picture
of a new Turkic world stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Chinese
borderlands with Turkey at its centre. Before this background of expectations,
it was a more or less common view that Central Asia not only would but,
moreover, should become Turkey’s sphere of influence.
Indeed,
Turkey was the first country to offer economic assistance to the new republics
after their independence. Besides offering the credit facilities of Turkey’s
Eximbank to an amount of more than $1bn, Turkey has been active in building the
regional telecommunications infrastructure and in developing the banking sector
by the establishment of joint ventures between Turkish banks and Central Asian
state-run banks. Turkish institutions are regularly engaged in the training of
businessmen, as well as of state officials from Central Asia, in order to
familiarise them with the working of market economy mechanisms. The Turkish
business community, too, discovered the new republics to be interesting markets.
Construction firms, for instance, are engaged in various projects like building
modern hotels, airports or industrial plants. Trade between Turkey and the
Central Asian republics has, also, shown a considerable growth over the last few
years.
