IMPORTANT ALLIANCE

Abdullah Gul paid his first foreign visit as the new Turkish head of state to Azerbaijan on 6-8 November. According to international practice, the choice of the country for such a visit demonstrates the level of allied relations and strategic priorities in foreign policy. Close allied relations have linked our country to Turkey since Azerbaijan restored its independence. The change of presidents and prime ministers in both countries in this period did not affect their allegiance to this alliance.

Abdullah Gul had quite a busy schedule in Azerbaijan. He held important talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart, President Ilham Aliyev, as well as Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Speaker Oqtay Asadov. He also addressed members of the Azerbaijani parliament. Then Abdullah Gul attended the opening ceremony of the new building of Caucasus University and held a meeting with the head of the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus, Allahsukur Pasazada. This was the first time that a foreign leader visited a region of Azerbaijan during his official visit. President Abdullah Gul visited ancient Ganca, met the leadership of the city and the staff of the Azerbaijani Agricultural Academy and visited the Cumhuriyyat Museum where he saw exhibits related to the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (1918-1920).

During the visit, the two presidents, Abdullah Gul and Ilham Aliyev, signed a declaration on strategic partnership between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Apart from that, they signed an agreement on cooperation between the government agencies of both countries in the sphere of protecting the family, mutual economic privileges, cooperation in the sphere of tourism and a plan on long-term economic cooperation between the two countries.

Relations between Baku and Ankara are rapidly developing. Turkey takes first place among Azerbaijan's foreign economic partners. More than 2,000 Turkish companies have invested 2.5 billion US dollars in the Azerbaijani economy, and considering oil projects, the volume of investments is approaching almost five billion dollars. At the same time, cooperation between the two countries is not limited only to bilateral projects and is rising to the regional and international level. Taking account of Azerbaijan's geographical location, most of Turkish projects cannot be implemented bypassing Baku. But only Baku's consent is not enough either. For this reason, during his news conference, President Gul urged Turkmenistan to support the project on the trans-Caspian pipeline and noted the importance of starting the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

The Turkish president's visit to Baku took place at a difficult time for the region. The peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagornyy Karabakh is completely deadlocked. The crisis caused by PKK terrorist attacks from bases in northern Iraq is gaining momentum. In response, Turkey has concentrated a group of 150,000 troops on the border with Iraq and is bombing terrorist bases using war planes, helicopters and heavy artillery. Large-scale hostilities might begin at any time, especially as the Turkish parliament has granted relevant powers to the government. At the same time, tensions around Iran are growing as the Iranian leadership refuses to restrict its uranium enrichment programme. 

Though discussions on all these problems were not made public, they took centre stage during the negotiations between the two heads of state. Azerbaijan has launched a large-scale programme to modernize, strengthen and rearm its army and to create its own military industry. Of course, Turkey will be playing a great role in this because it is a great military power and an authoritative member of NATO. Due to the growing terrorist threat, joint action between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to ensure the security and uninterrupted operation of the BTC oil export pipeline and the Baku-Erzurum gas pipeline is also of great importance. The parties also need to discuss a whole complex of difficult questions in their relations with Armenia.

In parallel with Gul's visit to Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held important talks with US President George Bush in Washington. Their main subject was the fight against the PKK terrorist organization. This extremely important problem was discussed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in Istanbul in early November. But the parties failed to make a compromise.

The negotiations in Washington made a dual impression. "The Kurdistan Workers' Party is a terrorist organization. They are enemies of Turkey, they are enemies of Iraq and they are enemies of the USA," President Bush said after his meeting with Erdogan in the White House. Then he said that "Turkey is a strategic partner and a reliable ally of America". Bush also said that he discussed with the Turkish prime minister ways of interaction between the two countries' intelligence services and armed forces to fight threats from Kurdish terrorists. In turn, Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that a triple mechanism between the USA, Turkey and Iraq will be set up at the level of army chiefs of staff in order to fight terrorists. "For us it is important to ensure joint action against terrorism with our strategic partner as was the case in Albania, Kosovo and Afghanistan," he said.

Apart from that, Prime Minister Erdogan said that the Kurdish population of Turkey enjoys all civil rights. As an example, he cited a convincing fact - 75 members of the Turkish parliament from the ruling Justice and Development Party are of Kurdish origin. In the Turkish parliament, there is an independent faction, the Democratic Society, which is comprised of 20 Kurdish MPs. Some restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language have now been eliminated. So the excuse - oppression of the national rights of the Kurdish community in Turkey - which was often used by PKK terrorists to justify their attacks is groundless.

Noting the importance of coordinated action between Turkey and the USA against the PKK in northern Iraq, Erdogan did not rule out that an independent military operation might be carried out. At the same time, he clearly identified its goals - suppression of terrorist bases and terrorist activity, not territorial occupation or control over some parts of Iraq. However, a large-scale trans-border military operation, at least before next spring or summer, is very unlikely. It is still possible to restrict or suppress the activity of the PKK with the help of US pressure on the Iraqi government and on the local Kurdish administration led by Barzani. The presence of Turkish units on the Iraqi-Turkish border and air strikes on militant bases are quite effective.

It is clear that the US does not want to foment tensions in relatively calm northern Iraq. Nevertheless, this time Washington is unlikely to get away with vague promises or harshly-worded statements. The Americans will have to respect Turkey's legal interests. Double standards, when almost the whole potential of NATO is mobilized against one terrorist organization and indifference is displayed with regard to the PKK, might weaken and cause irreparable damage to the North Atlantic alliance. Turkey's partners in NATO like Britain and Germany also realize this, which was announced during recent consultations. For the time being, the PKK has released eight Turkish soldiers in order to deprive Ankara of its excuse to launch a large-scale military operation.

In order to counter the ill-wishers of Turkey, Azerbaijan and other Turkic nations, we need solidarity and cooperation between Turkic countries and peoples. In the run-up to Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visit, the Azerbaijani public repeatedly demanded that the PKK be officially recognized as a terrorist organization. And President Ilham Aliyev did so by issuing a statement. The Azerbaijani Milli Maclis is also preparing a special resolution on this issue.

Of course, words cannot stop the terrorists, which is why it is necessary to ensure closer cooperation between intelligence services on this issue. But it is extremely important for Turkic organizations and communities to demonstrate solidarity and unity in fighting terrorism, be it Armenian ASALA, Hezbollah or the PKK. This is the goal of congresses on friendship, fraternity and cooperation between Turkic-speaking nations. They have been regularly held in Turkey since 1993. At the 10th congress held in 2006, a decision was made on the initiative of Ilham Aliyev to hold the 11th congress in Baku from 17 to 19 November.

The congress is expected to be attended by 550 representatives from 30 countries of the world. Delegates from Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbe-kistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Mongolia will arrive at the congress. Representatives from Russia and its regions, as well as from Kosovo, the USA, Greece, Bulgaria and other countries have also been invited. Among them are deputies, representatives of Turkic societies, NGOs and leaders of Azerbaijani and Turkish communities operating abroad. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other high-ranking guests are expected to attend this important event.

Twenty years ago, Turkey was the only independent Turkic state. But the world is changing. Now Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbe-kistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turk-menistan have also gained independence. We are not alone. Though closed ethnic unions have become a thing of the past in the globalizing world, cooperation in spheres like history, culture, language and science, as well as joint efforts against those who blame the Turks for their historical troubles are still important. For this reason, in order to keep abreast of time, both at the international level and at the level of communities, diaspora, public associations and parties, it is necessary to coordinate our positions and develop a strategy of further cooperation.