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Secretary General of the Council of Turkic-speaking countries: â€œThere is no serious reason for Uzbekistan to remain beyond this cooperationâ€ â€“ INTERVIEW

27 September 2010 09:00 (UTC +04:00)

Istanbul. Mayis Alizadeh â€“ APA. Secretary of the Council of Turkic-speaking Countries, Ambassador Halil Akinci gives an interview to APA

- Please accept our best wishes on your new post. This appointment is caused by a necessity, isnâ€™t it?

- The Turkic countries held 10 summits in the past 18 years. First summit was held in 1992 in Ankara and second one in 1994 in Istanbul. The united organization was always on agenda. We decided to establish an organization in Tashkent in 1995, to systematize our activity, but this decision was not fulfilled. According to that decision, the organization should have headquarters in the country where it would hold its next summit. We passed a decision in Nakhchivan last year to establish the Council of Cooperation of the Turkic-speaking countries. This Council contains the councils of heads of states, foreign ministers, veteran officials, elders and secretariat. It is a full international organization with its program and charter.

-Turkey was first to recognize independence of the friendly countries separated from the USSR, but relations with those countries are not in a necessary level. Do you think so?

- What result do you expect? We are specking about the countries, which are separated from each other for thousand years. Azerbaijan, which is closest one to us, was under the Iranian hegemony until 1822 and then under the Russian hegemony. After the short period of independence in 1918-20, it became under the Soviet hegemony. The Central Asia is geographically far from us and it was broken off long ago. Is it possible to reach a thousand-year distance in 18 years? It demands endurance. All of these countries are independent now. They are making decisions about them. We donâ€™t think to unite these countries as a single state. We speak about the cooperation between these countries.

- We realized that there is a question more about cultural and economic cooperation.

- Istanbul Declaration considers not only the cultural-economic cooperation, but the development of political solidarity between the countries as well, but upon that every country should save its identity.

- How can the cooperation be developed in this case?

- It can be developed because we have many joint interests. All of the Turkic-speaking countries have a political will. We will make all efforts to develop it. If there is a political will, the organization has to develop this cooperation.

- You are speaking about the political will, but Uzbekistan doesnâ€™t attend these summits for along time. What do you think about that?

- This time Turkmenistan also attended the summit. Earlier Turkmenistan said that it wouldnâ€™t attend these summits because of neutral status. I think Uzbekistan will also join us one day.

- Can you give information about the sub-councils united in the Council of Cooperation?

- The Council was established on September 16. First of all we have to complete some documentation. Our basic document is Nakhchivan agreement. We will sign a financial protocol now. It is necessary that all documents are adopted unanimously by all countries.

- What do you mean when you speak about the financial protocol?

-The question is the payment of membership fee by each state, because the employees of the council will receive salaries. Turkey will pay the expenses of this year. But after that each state must pay membership fee.

-How much will the membership fee be?

-I do not know it. Foreign ministers will discuss the issue. Budget will be prepared and membership fee will be paid in accordance with the national income of every country and the UN membership fee. Turkish Academy in Astana will also work in a similar manner. Baku paid the initial expenses of the Turk PA in Azerbaijan. The member states will confirm the financial protocol.

-Can the forms of government of the member states cause difficulty in future in terms of its activity?

-This is the intergovernmental organization. How to govern itself is the internal affair of each state. This organization only covers cooperation. This organization is not interested in the presidential or parliamentary systems.

-The achievements of the Turkeyâ€™s policy with respect to the Middle East are discussed. Sometimes it is said that Turkey should pursue this policy in the Caucasus. After the Russia-Georgia war two years ago, Ankara offered Moscow to establish Caucasus Platform for Stability and Cooperation. But the activities were not continued after being discussed on the technical level. How will your organization differ in this respect?

-Everything depends on the statesâ€™ will. Time will show. Our organization has been established for several days.

-Does the statute empower you to meet with the heads of states?

-The statute has not been adopted yet. Nakhchivan agreement does not impede my activity in this direction. If it does not impede then I have got authority.

-The biggest problem of the region is the occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia. Will we witness the active interference of the new council in this issue?

- I have declared my opinions on this issue during the period of my last post (Turkish ambassador to Russia- APA). At that time I had authority to speak. But now as a secretary general of the organization I can not say anything about this matter. If you want to learn my own opinions then look at my former sayings. But, of course, we always support Turkish state.

- Middle Asian statesâ€™ carelessness towards Azerbaijani occupied territories and Nagorno Karabakh conflict is criticized. Hereupon, what measures will you take to attract attention of those countries to this issue?

- The last statement is the copy of the statement passed in Nakhchivan. Other countries supported Azerbaijan as well. If there such support in the statement signed by head of states then what else are you looking for?

- You quote Nakhchivan agreement and note political will behind the matter. But honestly speaking, we see issues on the agenda which may be solved easily. For example, member states of the organization want visa from each other. What measures do you thing to take in this direction?

- Appropriate works will be done in this direction. In truth, works are done between the states. These are joint issues and that is why our secretariat will also engage in it. Visa issue is a common problem.

- Fund for Protection of the Turkish Cultural Heritage will be established in Baku. Is the scope of this work clear?

- This will be a private fund. It will cooperate closely only with TURKSOY.

- Are the works done by TURKSOY not enough?

- There are so many works to be doneâ€¦For example, in the sphere of archeological dig. Our archeological digs in Mongolian Altai have not been finished yet. The fund in Baku will give financial aid to these works. We are establishing Turkish History Museum in Astana. These are works needing time. We must be more patient.

- Does non-participation of Uzbekistan in the Council of Cooperation leave the work incomplete?

- We continue our way. The caravan is on the way. I believe that one day Uzbekistan will also join the caravan. Turkish president sent his greetings from the summit to everybody.

- There is a question about the joint language and alphabet. What does your secretariat plan to do toward this?

- We will do necessary work toward joint alphabet and we all will pass to the Latin graphic. We are using different letters in the Latin alphabet. The idea of single alphabet was put forward by Mirza Fatali Akhundzadeh. He came to the Ottoman Emperorâ€™s Palace and proposed his project to simplify Arab graphic. 2-3 years later he proposed to use Latin alphabet. The first Turkic Studies Conference in Baku in 1920 decided to pass to Latin alphabet. In 1917, the Yakuts passed to Latin alphabet and Azerbaijan passed in 1926. We started to use Latin alphabet in 1929. I think there are problems in our alphabet. We have to solve these problems and to use joint alphabet. I have a copy of Turkic-Russian dictionary published in Baku in 1929. There was no Azerbaijani, but Turkic language in that time.

We decided in Nakhchivan to use English as a working language for the time being.

-Why English? Could you use Turkish?

- All international organizations use English. We also established an international organization and therefore it is normal that the organization uses English. We used Russian at the summits for long time and there was no problem with that.

- Azerbaijan and Turkey have no problem to understand each other. Is it so difficult for the Central Asian leaders to learn the Anatolian Turkish?

- It is their problem. Everything is going toward the joint language. For example I correct my Turkish using the Azerbaijani dialect.