Türkiye is clearly trying to tear Central Asia away from Russia
The draft documents on mutual security guarantees sent by Moscow to the West actually concern not only Ukraine, but also Transcaucasia and Central Asia. And this is a signal not only to Washington, but also to all the ruling elites of the former Soviet republics.
Since we are talking about the non-proliferation of the Alliance to the East already in the post-Soviet space, we are talking, among other things, about the expansion of Turkey as the most combat-ready NATO member in South-Eastern Europe. Moreover, the process of unification of the former Soviet Transcaucasian and Central Asian republics around Ankara after the official formation of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) has accelerated so much that it is no longer possible not to react to it.
It should be taken into account that for the first time in recent years, NATO has increased the combat readiness of its rapid reaction forces, and primarily the operational unit, which is now headed by Turkey, and its Foreign Ministry immediately announced that the tension between Russia and the Alliance has reached a dangerous point.
That is, in the event of an escalation of the situation and a direct conflict with the Alliance troops, in the southern theater of operations it will be necessary to deal with Turkish military personnel, who have already been stationed for two years as a “limited contingent” in Azerbaijan.
This, by the way, contradicts the spirit and norms of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, signed by five states and prohibiting the presence of troops of third countries in the waters. As I remember, on the coast of this reservoir on September 12 of this year, joint exercises of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan “Three Brothers - 2021” were already held, which became a direct military threat to Iran, which was forced to pull up significant contingents of armored forces, aircraft, and UAVs to the northern border and put the flotilla on alert.
Taking into account the fact that it was announced about the unification of the military command of the armies of Turkey and Azerbaijan under the auspices of the General Staff in Ankara, Baku became a real springboard for NATO troops in the Caspian Sea and opened the gates for the spread of Erdogan’s further military-political influence to Central Asia. However, Ilham Aliyev himself does not hide the fact that this republic is becoming a territory for hosting North Atlantic Alliance forces hostile to Russia and the CSTO.
Thus, on December 14, during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg before the Eastern Partnership summit, the President of Azerbaijan unequivocally stated:
“Today we also discussed our plans for the future related to cooperation. Azerbaijan is participating in NATO military exercises. In addition, this year alone we conducted seven joint military exercises with Turkey, a current and leading member of NATO. This also serves the cause of peace and stability in the region.”
Aliyev and Stoltenberg.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg, since relevant agreements on military cooperation have been signed between Turkey and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Joint exercises are being conducted with these states and Turkish drones are being supplied, which Nur-Sultan and Bishkek are already armed with. And with the creation of the UTG, the emergence of one’s own “Turkic military alliance” or “Army of Turan” no longer seems something absurd or illusory.
Map of “Great Turan” with Russian territories.
It was Erdogan who started the campaign to the East, hoping to carry out subversive work through the territory of Kazakhstan as a member of the UTC among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Russia itself in the Volga region, the Urals, Altai and Siberia. Various emissaries are already heading there under the guise of journalists, trying to incite separatist and Russophobic sentiments there in order to tear these regions away from Moscow.
Just remember the recent case with the arrest in Siberia of the Kazakh journalist Nazgul Kezhetai and her husband Emin Karachak, who live in Turkey but came to Russia allegedly for the purpose of tourism. In reality, they were carrying out the task of the Ottoman intelligence services and associated media - filming a harrowing film in Khakassia, telling about the “cultural genocide” of the local population by the Russians.
Nazgul Kezhetai and her husband Emin Karachak in Khakassia.
Considering that 25-year-old Nazgul Kezhetai has repeatedly met with Nursultan Nazarbayev, is a member of Akorda (the presidential administration) and is closely connected with the ruling elite in Nur-Sultan, it is not difficult to guess what provocative role her owners played in shaking the EAEU and the CSTO from within tales of Russia's persecution of the Turkic peoples. It seems that this information project has been agreed upon with the Kazakh authorities and now we can expect new landings with this kind of “tourists”.
But these are only external manifestations of expansion. More dangerous are the initiatives related to the creation of formats for joint negotiations and meetings of the leadership of the countries of Central Asia and Transcaucasia without the participation of Russia with the aim of uniting them even more around Ankara. This proposal was voiced at a press conference on December 21 in Baku by the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to this republic, Kairat Osmonaliev.
The briefing itself was dedicated to the upcoming official visit of the President of Kyrgyzstan to Azerbaijan next year. During the visit it is expected to sign an agreement on strategic partnership. But the ambassador let it slip, saying that one of the issues of the negotiations would be the implementation of the international “5+3” platform. Allegedly, this platform should ensure cooperation between the five former Soviet Central Asian republics and the three Transcaucasian ones, and it should be carried out in three areas: political-diplomatic, economic and cultural-humanitarian.
It became immediately clear that this platform was only a cover for strengthening integration processes within the framework of the created UTG, where the neo-Ottoman leadership of Turkey, of course, would play the main role and, naturally, without the participation of Russia. Kairat Osmonaliev himself said this, admitting that the name for the negotiation platform was invented following the example of Recep Erdogan’s proposal to create a “3+3” platform in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“The initiative on the “5+3” platform fits organically into the post-conflict settlement processes in the region, and can also be organically combined with the “3+3”,” the Kyrgyz ambassador said.
This press conference immediately caused a lot of noise in the expert community, and a real scandal began to grow. As a result, the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, frightened by a possible reaction from Moscow, was even forced to disavow the words of his ambassador, calling reports about upcoming meetings without the participation of Russian representatives provocative.
“At the same time, for statements not coordinated with the center, which gave rise to such distorted interpretations and exaggeration in the media, President Sadyr Japarov severely reprimanded the Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic to Azerbaijan Kairat Osmonaliev,” says a message released on December 22 by the presidential administration of the Kyrgyz Republic.
However, it is hard to believe that the Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan could voice this idea on his own at his own peril and risk without the order of his leadership from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Surely this was a trial balloon in order to find out the opinion of the leadership of the republics of these two regions, as well as an attempt to stake out this format itself for the near future as part of a plan to bring these countries together under the auspices of the UTC.
Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Baku Kairat Osmonaliev.
It is not necessary that this idea was invented by those around Sadyr Japarov. Most likely, the proposal was entrusted to Bishkek by Nur-Sultan, which is the main driving force behind the formation of such a union under the auspices of Turkey in Central Asia. It is not for nothing that two laws restricting the Russian language appeared in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan at the same time - it seems that the transition to the “Turkish world” was agreed and coordinated in advance.
Therefore, repelling such a threat from Turkey and its vassals from the south is the most important task. This threat affects the integrity of Russia itself, leading to the destruction of the EAEU, the CSTO and the geostrategic bridge connecting with China and Iran. Moreover, right before our eyes, almost the entire former Soviet Central Asia is being separated from Russia, which inevitably plunges the region into the maelstrom of “Ukrainization” under the guise of the explosive growth of pan-Turkism and pan-Islamism.
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