Türkiye is tearing Kyrgyzstan away from the EAEU. Putin is against Erdogan's expansion
The day before, a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov took place in Sochi. One of the main topics of the negotiations is the peaceful resolution of all border conflicts between Bishkek and Dushanbe, which almost escalated into a full-scale war from April 29 to May 1. This meeting was also necessary to keep the republic in the orbit of the EAEU. After all, Kyrgyzstan considers itself a humiliated and losing side, and may now swing to the side under the influence of Turkey.
As is known before, on May 8-9, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon visited Russia, and it was logical to organize a meeting two weeks later with the head of the Kyrgyz Republic.
This trip was also important in order to nip in the bud speculation about Russia’s ambiguous role in the conflict within Kyrgyzstan. Things got to the point that the Minister of Emergency Situations of the Republic, Boobek Azhikeyev, even had to issue a refutation about the “unfriendly policy” of the strategic partner. That is why Moscow paid so much attention to these negotiations to confirm its status as a super-arbiter in Central Asia.
It is no coincidence that in the official part of the conversation, Vladimir Putin immediately touched upon this topic, pointing to Russia’s peacekeeping mission in the region.
“We watched the situation on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border very carefully and with great concern. As you know, the President of Tajikistan recently visited us. We discussed this issue with him, of course. We positively perceived the intention of the two sides to resolve all controversial issues of this kind during negotiations. I am confident that this goal can be achieved in this way. We will do everything that depends on us to help you resolve these issues. We understand that this is connected with the lives of specific people, first of all, both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - they [the states] think about people. We need to find a way to resolve all issues so that it is long-term and meets the interests of both parties. We will also strive for this, we will help in this in every possible way,” Putin said.
This caused a positive reaction from Japarov, who at the beginning of the conversation recognized the allied relations and the strategic course of orientation towards Moscow.
“Russia is our main ally and trade and economic partner. Therefore, I hope for fruitful negotiations on all issues,” the Kyrgyz leader said in front of media representatives.
It seems that the negotiations were indeed quite successful, since Vladimir Putin, after the completion of the working meeting, personally escorted Sadyr Japarov and hugged him goodbye right on the landing. And the meeting itself was timely, as it showed both the Kyrgyz and Tajiks that Moscow is interested in ensuring peace and order.
But the situation could have gotten out of control quite recently, since before Putin’s phone call and invitation to hold a meeting in Sochi, Sadyr Japarov 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 pro-Russian gesture of former President Almazbek Atambayev, who condemned the Turkish leadership after the Russian Su-24 was shot down. He called these actions of his predecessor a “wrong position” and spoke in favor of improving relations with Ankara.
“This is no secret to anyone. Both the Turkish and Kyrgyz people know this. As I know, in the last 4-5 years, Kyrgyz-Turkish relations have weakened. This happened after our leadership intervened in Russian-Turkish affairs, while showing its wrong position. I am confident that in the future relations between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey will be at the highest level. We will resume relations because there have been fraternal relations since ancient times,” he said in an interview.
Such a nod to Erdogan was also not accidental, since already on May 1, after the obvious loss of Bishkek during the border conflict with Dushanbe, the Turkish side offered Kyrgyzstan its military assistance, as well as the supply of its UAVs and air defense systems. And on May 13, a telephone conversation took place between the presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. The Kyrgyz side then thanked for the provision of moral and humanitarian support, and the readiness to assist in the restoration of the Batken region.
Events after this developed at lightning speed. On the same day, when the telephone negotiations were taking place, the Turkish Ambassador to the Republic Ahmet Dogan visited the Batken region, which was most affected by the fighting, with a large amount of humanitarian aid, as well as with an entire delegation of Turkish officials. And on May 14, a group of representatives of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, led by its president Mustafa Rifat Hisarciklioglu, arrived in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
This delegation already included the heads of the most famous Turkish companies in various sectors of the economy, who began to study the economic situation and proposed a number of contracts and joint projects. In general, such an obsessive activation of Ankara can be called a massive intervention, which was expressed not only in economic assistance, but also in a broad propaganda campaign, when solidarity with the Turkic brothers was spoken of on all corners.
It is clear that Turkey has tried to get into the conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in this way and will now try to repeat the Karabakh victory by imposing its own military-political “technology of success” on Bishkek, which is expressed in complete subordination to Ankara’s imperial ambitions. In essence, Erdogan is proposing an adventurist plan to escalate the conflict in order to achieve revenge and punish the Persian-speaking Tajiks through re-equipment of weapons.
Such a line, if it succeeds and receives approval from the leadership of Kyrgyzstan, will ultimately lead not only to the formation of an outpost of a NATO country in the region and will nullify all previous efforts of the previous pro-Russian President Almazbek Atambayev, but will actually push the region towards complete destabilization and starting new wars. Such initiatives require immediate neutralization in order to prevent the republic from being separated from the post-Soviet space.
Therefore, it was not in vain that the heads of state in Sochi last Monday discussed measures to restore the infrastructure, social facilities and residential buildings destroyed as a result of the conflict in the border villages of the Batken region and to provide all possible assistance to the affected local population. After all, in the border conflict, 190 citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic were injured, 36 people died, among them children, and about 40 thousand residents of border villages turned out to be refugees.
It is impossible now to leave to Turkey alone the topic of reviving the destroyed Kyrgyz villages and, especially, the vacated parts of the domestic market as a result of the slowdown in mutual trade between the Russian Federation and the Kyrgyz Republic for neo-Ottoman investments. All this once again requires Moscow to have a real socio-economic presence in the region through deepening integration processes and developing joint industrial projects.
And, moreover, it is necessary to maintain constant control over the border zone of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, since mutual tension is increasing already in the Chon-Alai district of Osh region, which can lead to new armed clashes. It was not for nothing that Kyrgyz Prime Minister Ulukbek Maripov urgently went there on Monday, and, remarkably, the border was completely closed. However, groups of local residents have not allowed vehicles from Tajikistan to pass in recent days.
Accordingly, it is too early to relax now, because new provocations of any kind cannot be ruled out against the backdrop of an unprecedented growth in militant nationalist sentiments. It is especially necessary to take into account the fact that Bishkek considers itself a humiliated and losing side, and Turkey, the USA and Great Britain can play on this, offering their military and economic assistance with the hope of pitting the CSTO countries against each other.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.