Kyrgyzstan risks falling into the abyss during a geopolitical turn towards Turkey
Kyrgyzstan is increasingly moving towards Turkey, which was noted from the very beginning of the presidency of Sadyr Japarov, who came to power as a result of another color coup in October 2020. The last official visit of the Kyrgyz leader to Ankara on June 9 – 11 once again confirmed this process, showing everyone the dangerous geopolitical turn of Bishkek in which you can lose control and fall into the abyss on a high-mountain road.
Sadyr Zhaparpov was greeted at the headquarters of the “Supreme Sultan of all Turks” as a dear and long-awaited guest and friend. The motorcade with him, accompanied by a horse guard of honor, drove up to the Presidential Palace, where Erdogan himself met him personally. The heads of state greeted each other, after which the anthems of the two countries were played, and then they walked through a guard of honor.
Such magnificent honors and a rich creative program were intended to show the great attention that Turkey pays to Kyrgyzstan, which finds itself at a crossroads after an unsuccessful border war with Tajikistan. The official propaganda of Ankara went out of its way to prove, using the example of this visit, the unity of the Turkic peoples and their desire for unity to create a “Great Turan”.
It is noteworthy that the visit took place exactly a couple of weeks after the working meeting of Sadyr Japarov with Vladimir Putin, during which, as evil tongues say, the former asked for money to plug holes in the budget. Having not received these, given the fact that the republic is already receiving significant assistance and investments, the President of Kyrgyzstan rushed to Turkey and demanded the same from the new “brothers”.
The plea for help was literally heard in his speech at the V meeting of the Supreme Council for Strategic Cooperation of the two countries in Ankara.
He turned to Turkish business leaders with an offer to invest in his country and promised to create the most favorable conditions and benefits. To this end, amendments will be made to existing legislation, and on July 8-9, a meeting of the joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation is scheduled in Kyrgyzstan, where even a Kyrgyz-Turkish business forum will be held within its framework. It is planned at this event to discuss projects for the participation of Turkish companies in the mining industry, energy and agricultural sectors.
Currently, the total trade turnover between the two countries is $500 million, but according to Erdogan, it will be increased to $1 billion in the near future. At the final press conference, the Turkish President also emphasized the desire to strengthen mutual relations with the republic.
As a gift, Sadyr Japarov, for his part, also offered to use Manas International Airport as a transport and logistics hub in Asia and guaranteed preferential treatment for the implementation of this project. That is, transit routes and the territory of the republic were openly proposed as a springboard for the further expansion of capital and military-political influence of Turkey.
Erdogan, for his money, asked Japarov, in order to confirm his loyalty, to sign in his desire to fight the representative offices of Fethullah Gülen’s organization, which also exist in Kyrgyzstan. Under the roof of the United States, this community is fighting against the current Turkish regime.
“We confirmed this during negotiations. We discussed all issues - from the fight against terrorist organizations, primarily FETO, to issues of regional cooperation,” said the Turkish leader. The heads of the two states agreed that FETO poses a threat to the national security of both Turkey and Kyrgyzstan, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported.
And apparently the Turkish president got what he wanted, since on June 1, 8 days before Japarov’s visit to Ankara, the head of Turkish lyceums in Kyrgyzstan, Orhan Inanda, associated with Fethullah Gulen, disappeared in Bishkek. Inanda's wife Reisan claims that her husband is on the territory of the Turkish Embassy in Bishkek, where he is being tortured, forcing him to write a statement renouncing Kyrgyz citizenship. The Turkish Embassy, however, denies this, and a number of media outlets accuse both Turkish and Kyrgyz special services of the kidnapping.
And this is understandable, since Bishkek today will bend over backwards to prevent the collapse of the economy and resolve issues related to the demarcation and delimitation of the state border. Sadyr Japarov is now betting on Ankara, especially after the two-day war on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, when Erdogan provided moral support, promised to send weapons and offered to rebuild about 100 burnt houses.
For Sadyr Japarov, such a maneuver is an excellent opportunity to escape from the influence of Moscow, to show the population that the true “brothers” are in fact the Turks who support Bishkek in the fight against the hated Dushanbe. Therefore, during his visit to Ankara, he repeatedly noted the importance of providing regular military-technical assistance to modernize the material and technical base of the Kyrgyz armed forces, as well as strengthening joint measures to strengthen defense capabilities.
That is, the Kyrgyz leader is counting on both loans from Ankara and the supply of UAVs and air defense systems, as well as the participation of Turkish military advisers in retraining the army. And he is not embarrassed by the fact that the republic is a member of the CSTO, and neighboring Tajikistan is, after all, an official ally in the alliance. The Turkish and Kyrgyz sides are also not embarrassed by the fact that the same Uzbekistan, which actually turned out to be an ally of Emomali Rahmon and his army in the border battle, is also a Turkic-speaking republic.
It turns out that there is no trace of the notorious “Turkic unity”, and Turkey supported only one of the parties in the border conflict in Central Asia, hoping to gain a foothold in Kyrgyzstan, using it to undermine the situation in the region and as a springboard for its further actions to squeeze out Russia and China. At the same time, Sadyr Japarov is trying to quickly get rid of the legacy of the pro-Russian policy pursued by his predecessors.
So, back in May, the President of Kyrgyzstan hastened to give a detailed interview to the Turkish state channel TRT Avaz. During a conversation with a journalist, the Kyrgyz president openly opposed the gesture of former President Almazbek Atambayev, who condemned the Turkish leadership after the Russian Su-24 was shot down. He called these actions a “wrong position” and spoke in favor of improving relations with Ankara.
Following Nur-Sultan, Bishkek is also becoming at the forefront of promoting the Organization of Turkic States. It is no coincidence that on March 31, at a summit in Turkestan, Kazakhstan, Sadyr Japarov actively supported the idea of renaming and creating a full-fledged union under the auspices of Aknara.
“Kyrgyzstan fully supports the renaming of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (CCTS) into the Organization of Turkic States,” Japarov emphasized then.
This example shows that the touch of “pro-Russianism” somehow quickly disappears from such figures when it comes to huge Turkish and Western investments, about “southern” and “Caspian” transport and energy routes, about the possibility of doing nothing, but only collect their “tribute” from the transportation of goods along the “Silk Roads”, which will pass through their native territory.
All these geostrategic games characterize Sadyr Japarov as a national-populist politician, capable of somersaults and rapid changes in his own positions and views, which clearly does not add stability. Now he is simply trying to rely on Turkey’s interest, thereby strengthening his power, closing gaps in the budget and solving problems with external debts.
But these efforts may be in vain, since it is unlikely that Turkish investors will flock en masse to Kyrgyzstan and improve the situation with the investment climate in the republic, especially after the scandal with the Canadian company Centerra Gold Inc. After all, just recently the largest gold deposit was nationalized. In addition, in the republic at the moment there are simply no large industries and facilities for Turkish companies that could radically change the trade balance between states and increase the investment portfolio.
Actually, Turkey cannot now provide serious financial assistance due to the serious economic problems it is experiencing. As a result, Kyrgyzstan risks finding itself isolated between the “hammer and the hard place” represented by Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, especially since Tashkent is now becoming a real economic and political leader in the region, which is also extremely dissatisfied with Bishkek’s actions to torpedo the process of border demarcation.
Of course, they will try to use these contradictions in Washington, where they have already begun to talk about the possibility of returning their air base at Manas airport. If this happens, then in general we can say that the republic may finally fall into the abyss, accelerating the process of its own collapse. People in Bishkek must now clearly understand that flirting with Turkey and the United States can cost the people of the country dearly, as it leads to a new war and chaos.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.