SUMMIT FOR NEW TARGETS

The summit of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) held on November 11, 2022 in Samarkand marked the beginning of the new stage of cooperation between the member states. This was in essence a transition from cooperation to integration. The initiators and drivers of Turkic integration were originally three countries: Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. And these three countries, together with Kyrgyzstan, which joined the group later, formed the core of Turkic integration.

Road to unity

Until 1991, Turkey was the only Turkic state in the world. After the collapse of the USSR and with the emergence of five Turkic states, Turkish President Turgut Ozal initiated the first ever summit of the Turkic states. The event took place on October 30, 1992 and was attended by all the leaders of Turkic-speaking states. Since then, Turkey has been known as the driving force of Turkic integration, a country aiming to unite the Turkic world.

The world has changed considerably over time, influenced by real political dynamics and the growing authority of other Turkic states. It took almost two decades to develop the format of regular meetings of state leaders into a clearly defined structure with its own goals and objectives. Until October 2009, the format of Turkic interaction was limited to summits, where the participants would discuss common topics of cooperation only. However, this does not mean that there was no institutionalisation of cooperation during that period.

Thus, the two largest and most influential organisations of the Turkic world, Turksoy (1993, the International Organisation of Turkic Culture) and TurkPA (1998, the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States), were established, with headquarters in Ankara and Baku, respectively.  These structures contributed greatly to the establishment of regular interaction mechanisms that stimulated the development of political solutions and humanitarian projects. This continued until October 3, 2009, when the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) was established at a summit in Nakhchivan on the initiative of the then Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. October 3 was subsequently declared the Cooperation Day of Turkic-speaking States.

The main objective of the organisation was to implement plans that focused on cooperation in the economic and humanitarian areas. At the same time, the institutional framework for cooperation has been significantly improved over time, including the establishment of the Council of Presidents, Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Aksakals and the Committee of Senior Officials.

From Turkic council to Turkic organisation

Sectoral formats have been established since 2009, including regular meetings between the heads of foreign policy bodies, ministries of economy, transport, customs, tax and migration authorities. Particular attention is paid to humanitarian cooperation. There are decisions to create common information platforms, a common Turkic TV channel and the International Turkic Academy headquartered in Astana.

Over the years, the trade turnover between the Turkic states has increased considerably. The establishment and improvement of the network of transport arteries linking the Central Asian states with Azerbaijan and Turkey has created a basis for the development of multilateral relations between the Turkic states, making it possible to increase their transit potential.

The signing of the Agreement on the Establishment of Coordination Committee for the Development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route on November 7, 2013 played a significant role in this process. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkey, along with Georgia, form the backbone of this dynamically developing project. Container cargo traffic along this route increased several times between 2017 and 2021, from 9,000 TEU to 25,200 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent; a conventional unit of measurement for the capacity of cargo vehicles). This year experts predict that this indicator could double.

In December 2019, another important transport project of Turkic states, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Caspian Sea-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey railway link, was launched at the initiative of Uzbekistan. In fact, two parallel routes are being established in Central Asia, crossing the Caspian Sea and docking at the port of Alat, Azerbaijan.

The impressive dynamics of mutual trade prove the existence of great potential. The trade turnover between the Turkic states has almost doubled over the past decade from $9.4 (2011) to $17.7 billion (2021). These are official figures provided by the statistical organisations of these countries. Another $21 billion was stated at the 8th CCTS summit, but this does not reflect the real potential. The parties have more ambitious goals, looking at how to increase the integration of national economies.

Following the announcement of the transformation of the CCTS into OTS, the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of Turkic integration underwent further changes.

OTS sets new goals

The results of the 9th OTS Summit show the improvement of the format of the Turkic Platform. Although it was the first OTS summit, it was decided to leave the numbering sequence of the summits.  Thus, the organisers made it clear that changing the name of the organisation did not change the vector of Turkic cooperation.

At the same time, the transformation of the organisation into a full-fledged international structure is taking on new contours. Thus, the participants of the Samarkand summit adopted the new procedures of the OTS, appointed the Secretary General of the organisation and his deputies, as well as the president and vice-president of the Turkic Academy. In other words, there is a process of improving the governance procedures.

In particular, during Uzbekistan's chairmanship, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev proposed institutional reforms within the organisation. First of all, to create separate ministerial-level committees in priority areas: politics and security, trade and investment, transport, agriculture, energy, information technology, etc.

By the next summit, Uzbekistan is likely to develop and propose for approval a new structure for the OTS secretariat.

The Turkic Investment Fund is aimed to boost economic relations, transforming them into cooperation and the creation of joint production clusters. This is also facilitated by the adoption of a five-year strategy for the OTS, as well as the initiative New Economic Opportunity Space under the OTS.

According to the UN FAO forecasts, global food import costs will rise by 10% in 2022, to a record $1.94 trillion, putting pressure on the world's poorest countries. Therefore, the Uzbek president's proposal for a multilateral agreement on the establishment of efficient food supply system also seems relevant.

President Ilham Aliyev emphasised that the Turkic world covers a vast geography, with over 200 million inhabitants. "Our countries have great economic potential, energy resources and modern military capabilities. The Turkic world is a big family. Taking into account each other's national interests, we must continue to show mutual support and solidarity," President of Azerbaijan said.

According to Ilham Aliyev, the Turkic world consists not only of independent Turkic states, its geographical boundaries are wider. "It is time to deal with and pay constant attention to issues related to the protection of rights, security, national identity, prevention of assimilation of fellow compatriots living outside the member states of OTS," Aliyev  said. This also applies to Northern Cyprus, Southern Azerbaijan and other regions.

Among other things, the Azerbaijani president called for the development of cooperation in areas such as security, defence and the defence industry.

Amid the processes unfolding in the South Caucasus, Afghanistan, the Black Sea region, Syria, Iraq and Iran, which directly affect the interests of the Turkic countries, the establishment of a common security system is imperative. In the meantime, the parties consider improving the level of training of the armed forces, including through joint military exercises and the re-equipping of military equipment with new models, in particular those produced in the participating countries.

All this suggests that the scope of the OTS activities is expanding to include non-conventional issues for inter-Turkic dialogue.