NATO conference in Ashgabat Turkmenistan
Ashgabat , Turkmenistan: Ashgabat hosted a regional conference of experts titled “Issues of peace and stability in Central Asia and Afghanistan: a view from neutral Turkmenistan” this week that was attended by all important players in regional as well as international political arena except Russia though Russia is direct neighbor of Central Asia.
The conference was organized by the Government of Turkmenistan with the support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Liaison Office for Central Asian countries.
The conference was attended by political scientists and experts from France, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Afghanistan. The delegation of Turkmenistan included representatives of the Foreign Ministry, as well as a number of other ministries, departments and higher education establishments.
In changing scenario of Eastern Europe, Central Asian political observers are giving special concentration to the outcome of this unprecedented meeting calling it a virtual reach of NATO as far as Central Asia.
Participants of conference included experts from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the United States, representatives of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
“This high-level event, organised jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and the office of the NATO Liaison Officer in Central Asia, was unprecedented in the history of Turkmenistan’s partnership with the Alliance”, indicated official statement of NATO posted on Friday on its website.
Important lectures given by experts indicated that threats to Central Asia are more from non state actors (terrorists) then any state.
Dr Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh (Professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, France and Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Norway) noted that all countries are facing similar threats. However, the means they use to tackle these are different, and their effectiveness debatable: “It would be natural to have regional cooperation, however, it is far from perfect in Central Asia,” she said.
Arguing for greater regional cooperation among Central Asian states, Dr Ulugbek Khasanov (Associate Professor at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan) stated that “we are all faced with non-state threats, which no state in the region is able to deal with on its own.”
Dr Kuralai Baizakova (Professor at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan) noted that “the degree of importance of common threats is perceived differently by different Central Asian states.” She advocated the development of new regional mechanisms, for instance, on sharing water resources, which could become a factor for rapprochement in Central Asia.
Elnura Omurkulova-Ozierska (Researcher at the National Strategic Studies Institute, Kyrgyzstan) highlighted the increasing threat to Central Asian security posed by radicalisation, while warning that harsh counter-terrorism policies adopted by some countries can be counter-productive.
Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov, an independent expert from Tajikistan, recalled Turkmenistan’s role as the first platform for three rounds of negotiations between the parties to Tajikistan’s Civil War (1992-1997), which made an “invaluable contribution” to ending this conflict. He also expressed the hope that the international community would assist Tajikistan in strengthening the security of its long common border with Afghanistan.
Haroun Mir (Director of the Centre for Research and Policy Studies, Afghanistan) praised the international community’s enormous contribution to Afghanistan, which today is a democracy enjoying freedom of speech. While he saw 2015 as a major test of the ability of the Afghan National Security Forces to ensure security throughout the country, he also highlighted a window of opportunity for national reconciliation, expressing the hope that this year would witness a breakthrough in the Afghan peace process.
