WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE "BIG BROTHER"

The comprehensive strengthening of relations between the countries of the Turkic world was the main theme of the 4th Summit of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) held in Bodrum, Turkey, on 4-5 June. The summit was attended by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The particularity of this format of interstate cooperation, which formed as an organization five years ago at the summit in Naxcivan, is that its member countries are united not only by common goals of economic and cultural integration, but also by a humanitarian component. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu noted on the eve of the summit that Turkic peoples, though they live in different states, are, in fact, one nation. For these people are united by a common language, religion, history, culture and traditions.

The summit in Bodrum was a kind of review for Azerbaijan as a country that took over the presidency from Kyrgyzstan in Qabala last year and handed it over to Turkey. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pointed out in his speech that during the past year the Azerbaijani side did a great job to strengthen unity between the member countries. In particular, during this period, a meeting of foreign ministers was held within the framework of the UN General Assembly, which was an important step for addressing political issues of the CCTS, including in terms of mutual support by member countries in international organizations. At the same time, a business forum was held, important steps were taken to improve the activities of diaspora organizations and meetings were held between the ministers of education and transport. On the initiative of Azerbaijan, a fund of Turkic culture and heritage is being created within the framework of the Council. Along with this, another initiative of Baku associated with the joint participation of CCTS member countries in international tourism exhibitions is being implemented. Important directions of development also include traditional cultural interaction of Turkic-speaking countries within the TURKSOY organization.

However, Azerbaijan, in addition to these traditional areas of interaction, has set even more ambitious goals to the organization of Turkic-speaking countries. First of all, we are talking about the further deepening of economic cooperation within the Council and mutual investment. Moreover, at the summit in Bodrum President Aliyev came up with an interesting idea of creating a common investment fund of Turkic states, which would help them engage third countries in joint investment projects.

Another important area, which Baku believes will strengthen the integration of the Turkic-speaking countries, is the transport infrastructure. Primarily, it is the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project, which is scheduled to be launched next year. According to the leader of Azerbaijan, it will be a historic event, because it will fill the "New Iron Silk Road" project with a new meaning and will bring additional benefits to all members of the Council. This is also furthered by the work to expand existing and build new commercial ports in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, which will significantly boost future cargo transportation.

Cooperation in the energy sphere is equally important. And it is natural, because three states of the CCTS - Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan - are important energy producers of international importance, and another member of the Council - Turkey - is an important transit country lying on the transit routes of energy resources to the West.

"Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan already have independent and diversified export routes. No country is experiencing any problems with exports. But in order to fully ensure our interests and strengthen our unity, we have to take, and I am sure we will take, joint measures in this area," Aliyev promised.

As you see, Azerbaijan is not just interested in maintaining and developing the long-standing format of interaction between the countries of the Turkic world, which had a clearly pronounced emphasis on the cultural community of the member countries until recently, but also intends to take an active part in the transformation of this format into the largest political and economic integration union in the southern part of Eurasia. The need for this is dictated by new geopolitical realities in which the union of states that have so much in common takes on a new meaning and content. Countries of the Turkic world recognize the need to develop common views on some key issues in rapidly changing geopolitical developments in international relations and in the light of some geopolitical challenges in world politics.

The Bodrum summit reaffirmed that the member countries of the alliance of Turkic states have formed an equal partnership. In particular, Azerbaijan positions itself today as an important geostrategic player in the South Caucasus region, which plays an important role in ensuring the energy security of Europe.

In addition, we can assume that the possibilities of the CCTS will have a positive effect on solving some long-standing problems of Azerbaijan with some countries of the region. In particular, we are talking about Turkmenistan and fundamental differences of positions between Baku and Ashgabat on deposits in the Caspian Sea. The active involvement of Turkmenistan, which avoided participation in any regional organizations until recently, including the CIS, in the organization of Turkic states allows us to say that this country is going through a new stage in the formation of foreign policy priorities. This manifests itself in the policy of President Berdimuhamedov in relations with neighbours and leading nations of the world. The Turkmen president certainly understands that placing Turkmen energy resources on the European market as part of the strategic objective to diversify the national energy policy is impossible without active cooperation with the Turkic states located on the path of this potential route - Azerbaijan and Turkey.

In this connection, the political scientist Fikrat Sadiqov regards the recent steps of the Turkmen leadership towards integration with close blood neighbours as "a breakthrough and a new page in relations", which will benefit all parties.

"Of course, we cannot say for sure that all problems between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will be solved, but in any case, this is a major step towards solving the problem of bilateral issues, including in connection with the status of the Caspian Sea," the analyst said.