Con posterioridad
al fallido golpe de estado ocurrido en Turquía en Julio de este año, veníamos notando
una aproximación del gobierno de este país a Rusia, Irán y China por un lado, y un paralelo
enfriamiento de relaciones con los EEUU y la Unión Europea, unión a la que
Turquía aspiraba integrar desde hace muchos años. Hasta estos días,
chicos. El terremoto estratégico que implicaría que un país miembro de la NATO
abandone el barco de Occidente y se suba al tren asiático (a través de la
Organización para la Cooperación de Shangai) es simplemente impensable. Turquía y Siria, en el Levante, son el verdadero puente entre Europa y Asia. La nota
que sigue es de Peter Korzun y salió publicada hoy en el sitio web Strategic Culture Foundation:
Título: Major
Foreign Policy Shift: Turkey Abandoning EU for SCO
Texto: Turkish
President Tayyip Erdogan said on November 20 that Turkey did not need to join
the European Union «at all costs». Instead, it could become part of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), or Shanghai Pact. The Turkish leader
said he had already discussed the idea with Russian President Vladimir Putin
and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The SCO is a
Eurasian political, economic, and military organization founded in 2001 in
Shanghai. Its members are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan speak Turkic languages.
India and
Pakistan are to become full-fledged members by the next meeting at Astana in
2017. Mongolia, India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are SCO observers. In
2013, Turkey got the status of SCO’s «dialogue partner». The other country with
the same status is Belarus. Dialogue partners are entitled to take part in
ministerial-level and some other meetings of the SCO, but do not have voting
rights.
Turkey formally
applied to become a member of the European Union in 1987 and accession talks
began in 2005. Its ambition to become part of the bloc dates back to the 1960s.
Its prospects of joining look dim after 11 years of negotiations. The human
rights are a divisive issue.
The EU has
stepped up its criticism of Ankara since the failed July 15 coup d’état, saying
the country’s anti-terror laws were being applied too broadly. Luxembourg and
Austria, as well as some European lawmakers, called on the bloc to halt
membership talks with Turkey or punish it with other sanctions.
For its part,
Turkey is frustrated with the long stalemate over EU membership. Ankara has
accused the EU of treating the country differently regarding its accession
attempt and failing to unlock all the cash it had promised to disburse to
Turkey on the back of the refugee deal. Turkey plans to revive the death
penalty. The move will make EU accession impossible. President Erdogan plans to
call a referendum on the future of Turkey’s EU membership bid.
Turkey’s SCO
accession would be a milestone bringing together the organization and the
Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (CCTS) - an international
organization of Turkic countries, comprising Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Turkey. The General Secretariat is in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan are possible future members of the council.
The international
organization also functions as an umbrella body for all other autonomous
collaboration mechanisms like the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking
Countries (TURKPA), International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY), and
Turkic Academy.
Since its establishment
in 2009 the CCTS has made meaningful progress on institutionalizing the
interaction. The 6th Summit of the Heads of States of the Turkic Council is
expected to take place till the end of the year in Cholpon-Ata (Kyrgyzstan).
President Erdogan’s
statement is another sign of Ankara’s moving away from the West to other
partners. For instance, Turkey has just announced it is in talks with Russia on
purchasing the advanced long-range S-400 air defense systems to protect its
skies. It also seeks procurement deals in electronic systems, ammunitions and
missile technology. General Hulusi Akar, the head of the Turkish armed forces’
General Staff, visited Russia this month to discuss military cooperation.
During Erdogan’s
two-day visit to Pakistan on November 16, the editor of a pro-government
newspaper in Turkey said the country needed to develop its own nuclear
deterrent. He might have expressed his personal opinion but it confirms the
general trend of Turkey’s reorientation away from the NATO’s concept of
cooperative security under the US umbrella.
During the August
9 summit in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and Turkey signed a declaration on
unprecedented partnership in defense industry. The parties also agreed to form
a joint military and intelligence mechanism to coordinate their activities in
the Middle East. Russian-Turkish economic cooperation is expected to make
further progress with the revival of Turkish Stream gas project.
It should be
noted that Russia, not the US or any other NATO member, was the first country
to be visited by the Turkish president after the failed coup.
In late October,
Turkey and China also held a trade symposium in Istanbul, signing a total of 36
new deals amounting to $300 million in value. Due to its geography, Turkey has
a crucial role to play in implementation of China’s One Belt One Road (Silk
Road) project. Turkey is again taking the position as a key investment and
cooperation partner that will help bridge the East and the West.
It has risen to
become the world's 17th largest economy and an increasingly important
destination for Chinese companies that want to trade and invest. Currently,
China is Ankara’s third-largest trading partner, with trade amounting to $28
billion. Turkey is popular among Chinese tourists, and cultural relations
between the two countries are developing.
Turkish Customs
Minister Bulent Tüfenkci announced in January that the country now aims to
triple trade with Iran, an SCO observer, to $30 billion «as soon as possible».
Turkey’s gradual
shift from the West to Eurasia and other partners is part of a broader process
as the West gets weakened and divided. The very notion of “Western unity” is
fading away. Unsurprisingly, as its relations with the West sour, Turkey is
reaching out to other poles of power. Further progress on the way of Ankara’s
to integration with the SCO will facilitate the multi-dimensional foreign
policy to strengthen Ankara’s standing in the world.
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