Does the Organization of Turkic States Worry China and Russia? – The Diplomat

Shut ties amongst Turkic states have begun to construct momentum in recent times. The momentum reached a tipping level on the Eighth Summit of the Turkic Council on November 12, 2021, in Istanbul, when Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally introduced the choice of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Talking States (Turkic Council) to vary its identify to the Group of Turkic States (OTS). The announcement mirrored Ankara’s ambition to improve the group from a torpid alliance to a formidable political union.

The Istanbul summit was a major milestone for the Turkic world for a lot of causes. Whereas it provided financial and political assist to member and observer states, elevated cooperation amongst Turkic states was proposed as contributing to a discount of commerce boundaries between Asia and Europe. A lot of the long-term plan of the OTS is codified within the Turkic World 2040 Imaginative and prescient doc. The doc outlines how the Turkic group will harness member states’ collective sources and change into a drive to reckon with on the worldwide stage. Solely time will inform whether or not this imaginative and prescient will succeed or not.

Within the yr because the Istanbul summit and the formation of the OTS, the Turkic alliance has skilled many optimistic adjustments. Throughout a current summit, which was held on November 11, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan was accepted as a full member of the group. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was additionally welcomed because the OTS’s latest observer member. One of the crucial outstanding selections of the current summit was the institution of the Turkic Funding Fund (TIF). The aim of the TIF is to speed up the financial progress of member states by way of the availability of finance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Along with the creation of the TIF, OTS members have launched into many cultural initiatives geared toward strengthening the ties of Turkic nations. Within the final yr, efforts have been made to deepen member states’ integration by way of shared historical past, language, and id. The OTS envisions a world the place each member state speaks the identical language. At a workshop held in Turkey on September 30, 2022, the “Frequent Alphabet Fee” was established to expedite the transition of Turkic states to a normal alphabet.

One other technique proposed to strengthen the connection of members states is the prioritization of non secular points. The group brings heads of non secular establishments of member states collectively 4 instances a yr to debate points affecting Islam in Turkic nations. On October 20, 2022, non secular leaders from the Turkic states convened a gathering in Baku and established the Council of Spiritual Leaders of the Turkic World. The aim of the council is to take a standard stance within the struggle towards Islamophobia and any type of extremism in Turkic nations.

Having fun with this text? Click on right here to subscribe for full entry. Simply $5 a month.

The group has additionally made plans to take a joint political stance. Member states have adopted a collective perspective on numerous regional points, such the Afghanistan disaster, the Kazakhstan unrest, the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflicts, and the Kyrgyz-Tajik border subject. One other main goal of the alliance is to ascertain a logistical hyperlink between Turkic states by empowering Trans-Caspian East-West-Center Hall and merging with China’s Belt and Street Initiative. With this goal, member states have the collective political and financial clout to problem Beijing’s affect in Central Asia. 

Though the OTS has lofty targets, solely Azerbaijan and Turkey are prepared to go the additional mile to implement the union’s full imaginative and prescient thus far. Russia wields nice energy over OTS members like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and this affect might imperil the harmonization of member states. Whereas these nations might wish to assist Pan-Turkism, they could additionally balk at making strikes that counter Moscow’s curiosity. Other than Russia, the OTS might pose long-term dangers to China’s plans to change into the dominant participant in Central Asia. After all, Beijing won’t fold its hand and watch the OTS intervene within the delicate points.

Other than exterior affect, inner points may compromise the aim of the OTS. Some member states have questioned Ankara’s main position within the union. Extra worrying is that the OTS might stoke the emergence of nationalist ambitions amongst Turks. The growth of group actions primarily based on descent and cultural unity might consequence within the resumption of factionist tendencies amongst different Turkic peoples.

Nevertheless, some Turkish officers really feel that the OTS doesn’t pose such a risk. In a speech, Chairman of the Council of Elders (Aksakallılar) Binali Yıldırım calmed folks’s fears: “Some imagine the Turks are dreaming about their outdated ambitions. Nevertheless, our goal is to develop regional cooperation, improve the well-being of individuals and make safety everlasting.” In an op-ed for the SCMP, the Turkish Ambassador in Beijing Abdülkadir Emin Önen wrote that the “OTS doesn’t comply with ethnicity-based coverage amongst its members or in third nations.”  

Regardless of Turkish officers’ assurance of OTS’s altruistic targets, the 2040 imaginative and prescient doc and the views of high political figures within the Turkic world reveal that the OTS seeks to design a joint cultural and historic alliance among the many Turkic states. Talking on the ninth Summit of the OTS, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev proclaimed that “The Turkic world doesn’t consist solely of impartial Turkic states. Its geographical boundaries are wider.” Aliyev’s name to motion for Turks dwelling in different nations could be seen as OTS’s intention to intervene in different states’ home affairs.

Furthermore, Burhanettin Duran, a member of the Turkish presidency safety and international insurance policies council, wrote a thought-provoking article wherein he said Turkey may compete towards China within the area. In accordance with Duran,“Given China’s proximity and rising financial curiosity within the area, Türkiye may serve a balancing position to make sure that Beijing doesn’t interact with the Turkic world because it has with Africa.” The covert ambitions of the OTS pose a compelling threat, notably for nations like China and Russia, with tens of millions of Turkic populations inside their borders.

In conclusion, whereas the OTS claims that it has no plans to problem the hegemony of China and Russia in Central Asia, the mixing of Turkic states poses an important risk to Beijing and Moscow. These nations’ ideas are formed by political realism, and they won’t settle for OTS’s seemingly noble claims at face worth. To them, the one option to retain their energy is by weakening rising regional powers and making smaller nations rely upon them. Nevertheless, if the foremost powers will not be startled, the OTS will undoubtedly emerge as a brand new sport changer within the area within the lengthy or medium time period.