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BY ERDAL SAFAK
SABAH- We went to Ashgabat to watch the swearing-in ceremony of Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s new president, together with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, three state ministers, their advisors, Foreign Ministry officials and other reporters. No matter what you say about the Turkmen elections, the US, Russia, China, the EU or Turkey don’t care. They all recognized the outcome and applauded Niyazov Turkmenbasi’s 49-year-old successor. It’s all because of the natural gas, because everybody needs it and Turkmenistan owns 20% of the world’s natural gas reserves. The US, Russia, the EU, China and Turkey are very careful about Turkmenistan’s ‘stability’ in order to benefit from this gas. They are careful, because Russia doesn’t want to endanger its 25-year contract through which Gazprom handles 85% of the yearly production of Turkmen gas; China doesn’t want to risk the contract which gives it an operating concession for new fields, envisages the construction of a new pipeline and opens the way for purchasing 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually; the US will bring Turkmen gas to the Indian Ocean through a pipeline passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan; and the EU and Turkey want to connect Turkmen gas with Azerbaijan’s Sahdeniz line and then deliver it to Europe through the Caucasus, Turkey and the Balkans.
Yes, everybody’s calculations are different but all of them come together in Turkmenistan, and everybody attaches the utmost importance to the continuation of stability in Turkmenistan so that these calculations can bear fruit. While Erdogan was speaking with me and my colleagues on the plane, he didn’t hide his happiness at Berdymukhamedov’s problem-free election. ‘Now it’s time to reconcile the Turkmen and Azeri leaders,’ he said. There is a coldness between these two countries since the Soviet era due to the personal enmity between late leaders Turkmenbasi and Haydar Aliyev. Ankara hopes that this problem can be solved with the new generation of leaders in power, and thus Sahdeniz gas line can be extended to Turkmenistan. It even hopes to act as a mediator towards this end. Of course, we talked about many issues with Erdogan, and here’s what he said in brief:
Oil crisis with Greek Cypriots: The Greek Cypriot administration is pursuing a malicious policy in order to strengthen its position in the EU. They’re not on the solid ground.
Anti-PKK operations in Europe: This is just the beginning. Watch for new developments.
May’s Presidential election: I’ve said what I had to say. You won’t get another word out of me before April.
Calls for Parliament not to elect the president: Those who say this respect neither democracy, nor the law nor the Constitution.
Article 301: This article won’t be abolished, but it can be changed. A solution to prevent everybody from applying to public prosecutors is a must.
We landed in Ashgabat at nearly midnight. There was nobody on the streets. Probably everybody was home busy reading the ‘Rukhnama’ (Turkmenbasi’s ‘Book of Spirit’) which was distributed at the ballot box.”
