TURKIC LEADERS AGREE ON CONCRETE STEPS
Zaman, Turkey
Nov 18 2006
The eighth summit meting of Turkic speaking countries, hosted by
Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in Antalya, wrapped up.
Meeting again after five years, the heads of Turkic language-speaking
countries agreed on taking concrete steps in political, economic,
and cultural cooperation.
Sezer proposed highlighting the common features of Turkic-speaking
countries. Kazakh President Nurzultan Nazarbayev supported Sezer’s
proposal: "Let’s systemize cooperation among our businessmen.
Turkey’s experience in this regard suffices."
The leaders discussed the safe transportation of Caucasian oil and
natural gas, particularly Azeri and Kazakh resources, to Europe
via Turkey.
During the meeting, possible risks facing energy security and
cooperation among the countries in countering terrorism and organized
crimes were also discussed, foreign ministry sources said.
Officials said that the most serious energy security issue was the
overseas transportation of Caucasian oil, 30 percent of which comes
from Azerbaijan and 70 percent from Kazakhstan, which might reach an
output capacity of four million barrels a day in the future.
Meeting calls for concrete steps
The joint statement released at the closure of the meeting contained
concrete steps to enhance cooperation.
Building the Istanbul-Almaty railway was one of these steps.
The statement supported Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and
Turkey in the Cyprus and Iraqi Turkmen issues.
Final Declaration
The following are some points from the 27-item final declaration
signed by the four leaders:
Educational cooperation is significant to enforce and improve
friendship among Turkic speaking societies, to create more closeness
among future generations and to train qualified staff.
Cooperation among parliaments, central and local administrations,
media companies and trade associations must be supported because of
its importance in improving social relations among societies.
Completion of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum
has international strategic significance. It is crucial to connect
these pipelines to trans-Caspian projected pipelines.