Türkiye is building a bridgehead against Russia in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is becoming a real springboard for expanding Turkey's influence in Central Asia. Yes, there is, of course, Kazakhstan, which is ahead of the integration processes to create the Organization of Turkic States, but Bishkek in this case is convenient, since it is located in the center of the region and at the intersection of the most important routes. Plus, the territorial conflict with Tajikistan provides an attractive opportunity for Ankara to play out the Karabakh scenario here too.
Therefore, now there is an intensive process of rapprochement and penetration of Turkish capital. This is confirmed by the visit last week of Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay, who took part in the next meeting of the Kyrgyz-Turkish intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. In addition, a business forum dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey was also held in Bishkek.
Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay and President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov
The latest event was designed to strengthen the position of Turkish business structures and accelerate the growth of mutual trade. The inauguration of new hospitals and schools, such as the Maarif school in the capital of the republic, should formally strengthen ties in the fields of culture and education and the special role of Turkey in providing humanitarian assistance. But in practice, this is a tool of soft power to tie the ruling elite and part of the population to Erdogan’s neo-Ottoman chariot.
Vice President of Turkey Fuat Oktay and Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Maripov
Senior Kyrgyz officials are happy about this, naively hoping to receive a portion of financial assistance and at the same time play their favorite multi-vector policy, thinking that Turkey can become a real geopolitical alternative to Russia and China in the region. To achieve this, flattery and statements about high expectations from such a rapprochement are used. Thus, Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Ulukbek Maripov not only showered pleasantries, but also called the Turkish Republic a strategic partner.
“The Republic of Turkey is one of the republic’s major trade and economic partners. We can learn a lot from the Turkish side. Many Turkish companies operate in Kyrgyzstan; they make a significant contribution to the development of the country’s economy. We must develop our relationships and attract investments. Efforts must be made to increase the level of trade turnover between our countries to $1 billion,” Maripov said.
Among other things, he proposed on behalf of the authorities to form in the near future a Kyrgyz-Turkish development fund following the example of the one that has already been created with Russia, and is expected to be created with neighboring Uzbekistan and Hungary. Such a structure, according to Bishkek, should link the countries of Central Asia with Ankara on the eve of the summit of the Organization of Turkic States, which is to be held at the end of this year in Istanbul.
The government of the Kyrgyz Republic also expects that Turkish business captains will now invest in the mining industry, tourism, energy and healthcare. In response to this, Erdogan’s entourage does not skimp on promises, and Fuat Oktay predicts literally mountains of gold for Bishkek in the event of further economic and political rapprochement within the framework of the Turkic integration process.
“Kyrgyzstan is a strategic partner for us, we are fraternal peoples. We are ready to make efforts to further strengthen cooperation, including attracting investments to the Kyrgyz Republic. At the end of eight months of 2021, trade turnover amounted to $509 million. Compared to last year, it increased by 78%. There is a goal - to increase the level of trade turnover between our countries to $1 billion, and this is only the first goal.
Next, we must work to achieve a trade turnover of $5 billion. Today there are 300 companies of Turkish entrepreneurs operating in Kyrgyzstan, but our potential is much higher. Our entrepreneurs are ready to implement the most daring projects in the Kyrgyz Republic, and we hope for the support of the Kyrgyz side. We are ready to develop cooperation in the field of hydropower and support the project for the construction of a hydroelectric power station on the Naryn River,” the Turkish vice-president noted in his speech.
In reality, Ankara is simply now shamelessly taking advantage of the difficult crisis situation in Kyrgyzstan, which went through a new “color revolution”, suffered significantly from the pandemic and found itself on the brink of a real socio-economic catastrophe. The defeat of Kyrgyzstan in the border war with Tajikistan at the end of April this year also played in Erdogan’s favor, which caused a wave of national patriotism.
As you know, the President of the Turkish Republic “brotherly” immediately offered military-technical assistance and supplies of UAVs and tactical air defense systems to effectively confront the Tajik armed forces. The play on these sentiments of revenge and on the bitterness associated with large material and human losses effectively continues when the Turkish side demonstratively restored houses in several burned border villages.
This achieves not only the attraction of the sympathy of ordinary Kyrgyz people, but also, at the same time, reconnaissance of the area as a future theater of military operations. Surely numerous representatives of the Turkish special services and military advisers came to the south of the republic with the builders. For Turkey, this conflict is truly a gift of fate, as it opens up broad prospects for imposing the Karabakh scenario in order to undermine stability in the Fergana Valley and in the region as a whole.
Such plans are also facilitated by the degradation of the public administration system and endemic corruption, which creates the opportunity to accommodate anyone and use the mountain ranges of the republic for their own military-political purposes. An example is the fact voiced on television by Russian political scientist Karine Gevorgyan that entire settlements were made available for money to Afghans who fled the Taliban offensive.
“They sent me an interesting video from Kyrgyzstan, where I see that some villages there have been almost entirely bought out, so to speak, by refugees from Afghanistan. This causes great concern,” said Karine Gevorgyan.
Among these “refugees” there are probably many former or current militants from various North Afghan terrorist groups who have combat experience and who can be used by external forces, including Turkish ones, to carry out sabotage and actions in neighboring countries.
This trend is very alarming, since a threat may come from the territory of Kyrgyzstan in the event of a serious take-up of pan-Turkists, who are now relying on pan-Islamism in the region. It is important for Bishkek to understand that behind Ankara’s “brotherly” embrace actually hides the interests of Great Britain and the United States, which are counting on causing a split in Kyrgyz-Russian relations and causing controlled chaos in the region.
Turkey’s task is to “put a pig” on Moscow and Beijing both in Afghanistan itself, so there is now a bargaining between Ankara and the Taliban to give control of the capital’s airport, and, if possible, in all the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan in this case is the weakest link in the chain of newly formed republics after the collapse of the USSR, which is best suited as such a springboard for the spread of pan-Turkism and neo-Ottomanism.
This process of intensive rapprochement between Bishkek and Ankara clearly contradicts the integration processes within the EAEU, as well as the interests of Russia and China in the region, which, after the withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan, become the main bastion of stability and peace. In this regard, in my opinion, it is now necessary to actively explain to the Kyrgyz people, since their own government cannot do this, that Turkey, in fact, being an agent of the West, is pursuing the interests of its friends in NATO, and vice versa, it is Russia that is strategic partner and guarantor of the republic's security.
Otherwise, there is a great threat of filling the information space with propaganda tales of neo-Ottomanism, which can quickly modify the consciousness of the local population and present the aggressors as “brothers.”
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