PM Erdoğan to Head off to Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia

Professor Ermanno Visintainer is a Turkologist and expert on the Turkish world. He is also the president of the Italian think tank Centro Studi “Vox Populi.” Vox Populi supports many well known Italian intellectuals and politicians. It also holds conferences and publishes books about literature and geopolitics in relation to Eurasia.
 
It recently published a compilation of works referencing Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's book “Strategic Depth.” Visintainer's wife is a Mongolian Kazakh, and his 7-year-old son is named Timuçin. Visintainer met his wife in İstanbul, which is where his wife's family still lives. In fact, there is a large Mongolian diaspora located in İstanbul. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will head to Kyrgyzstan between April 9-11, and from April 11-12 to Mongolia, for official visits. These visits might spark the question, “Why is Prime Minister Erdoğan visiting these countries one after another?”
 
The answer is because Turkey has begun to think of Central Asia not within the context of the Soviet Union. By adding Mongolia, Afghanistan and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China to the mix, it has expanded the lands of “relatives.” Turkish Airlines now flies between İstanbul, Bishkek (Manas Airport) and Ulan Bator. Before this, access to Mongolia was generally through Aeroflot via Moscow. But now you can get there from İstanbul with Turkish Airlines. Thanks to this, İstanbul is a window to the world for Mongolia, and has also become a second home away from home for Mongolian citizens. The elimination of visas between Turkey and Mongolia is also on the agenda right now. If this does happen, the repairing of more than a thousand years of broken history between these two countries will speed up even more.
 
Prime Minister Erdoğan's first stop on his official visit will be Bishkek. On April 10, Prime Minister Erdoğan will meet in the Kyrgyz capital with Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev. Then, the second meeting of the Turkey-Kyrgyzstan High Level Strategic Cooperation Council (YDSK) will take place.
 
The YDSK was formed during Prime Minister Erdoğan's February 2011 official visit to Bishkek. The first meeting of the YDSK took place during a visit to Ankara by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. During his upcoming Bishkek visit, Prime Minister Erdoğan is scheduled to visit the Bishkek Mosque and complex construction site, as well as the Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University. He will also attend the Turkish-Kyrgyz Business Forum. As for the opening of the Yunus Emre Cultural Center in Bishkek, it now appears that this will be delayed due to a postponement of the signing of necessary agreements in the Kyrgyz capital. This is despite the fact that both the French and German cultural centers are functioning there. Turkey granted Kyrgyzstan $2 million in aid and two parcels of land in Oran Sitesi in Ankara for the Kyrgyz Embassy. But Bishkek has not taken any steps to further the progress of the Yunus Emre Cultural Center, and this is something which needs to be attended to.
 
After his visit to Kyrgyzstan, Prime Minister Erdoğan will travel to Mongolia, where he is scheduled to place a wreath on a statue of Genghis Khan in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator on April 11. The prime minister will meet and sign dual accords with his counterpart, Mongolian Prime Minister Norovyn Altankhuyag. Erdoğan will then meet with Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj on April 12. He will also attend the opening of Ankara Boulevard in Ulan Bator, built by the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA) and the Ankara Municipality. Erdoğan will also visit the Bilge Tonyukuk monuments in the Mongolian city of Nalaikh, where he will attend the opening ceremonies of a mosque and cultural center.
 
The YDSK is an example of a very beneficial sort of cooperation. But we also need a new model of cooperation that will encompass and enfold all the related peoples of the Balkans, the Black Sea region, the Caucuses, the Middle East, Central Asia and Mongolia. The trip by Prime Minister Erdoğan to both Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia only serves to more pointedly underscore this need.