Regional Peace Centre in Ashgabat – Part Two

nCa Report

Continued from Part One

Ashgabat, 2 September 2007 (nCa) --- The concept of the regional peace centre – regional centre for preventive diplomacy – in Ashgabat is still in a fluid state. It would be a little while before everyone can be sure of its real scope and the mechanics of preventive diplomacy.

The most elaborate document available to the media so far is the policy statement issued by the foreign office of Turkmenistan. The English language version of the statement was released by TDH, the official news agency of Turkmenistan, on 27 August 2007.

Expressing obvious pleasure at the UN decision to establish the regional centre for preventive diplomacy in Ashgabat, the statement attributes the credit to the policies of the new president of Turkmenistan. “It should be noted that the question on the establishment of the Centre for Preventive Diplomacy had been distinctly outlined since the beginning of the current year when world community became aware of the Turkmen leader’s firmness of purpose and dynamism, harmoniously combined with openness and pragmatism.”

“The key UN bodies based their decision upon analyzing the President’s specific and real steps on world arena supplemented with the large-scale initiatives aimed at intensifying international co-operation,” the statement underlines.

Reiterating the standing promise of sharing the political, economic and cultural potential of Turkmenistan for the common benefit of mankind, the foreign office explains the process that led to the historic UN decision. “The main ideas conditioning the establishment of the Centre for Preventive Diplomacy were set forth in the documents of the UN High Level Group, which had been nominated by UN Secretary-General to generate the report. The results of the large-scale preparatory work were secured in the report of UN Secretary-General at the 60th session of the UN General Assembly (2005).”

Here are the four paragraphs at the heart of the policy statement of Turkmenistan:

“The Centre for Preventive Diplomacy is to ensure the interaction between the United Nations and the regional governments as well as other structures in the issues on conduct of preventive diplomacy practice. It will provide another opportunity to promote co-operation in the specific aspects of peace and stability maintenance in the region.

“An important function the regional structure to perform is monitoring and analyzing the situation on the spots, providing regularly the UN Secretary-General with the information on the measures taken and interaction between parties on peace and stability maintenance.

“When conducting the activity the Centre will keep contacts with the Organisation for Sector and Co-Operation in Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Co-Operation Organisation and other regional organisations that will promote expanding and intensifying international collaboration in supporting peacemaking efforts and initiative. Close interaction is to promote co-ordination and information exchange on a higher organisational level.

“As a UN structure in the region the Centre is to ensure the political conditions for supporting the efforts of UN resident coordinators aimed at designing a uniform approach to adoption and implementation of preventive measures and provision of humanitarian aid.”

Acknowledging the fact that the peace centre in Ashgabat would be the first experiment of its kind in the entire UN history, the foreign office of Turkmenistan emphasizes the importance of developing the techniques of preventive diplomacy through research and analysis and comprehensive, non-stop dialogue.

A TDH commentary, published on 17 August 2007, quotes from the speech of Berdymuhamedov at the SCO summit on 16 Aug in Bishkek. “Urgent issues of regional and international importance are being discussed at this summit which is evidence of the great potential which has been accumulated and is being realized by the SCO.”

Another TDH commentary, published on 20 August 2007, reminds that Berdymuhamedov said during the Bishkek summit that the regional peace centre in Ashgabat would cooperate with international and regional organizations such as OSCE and SCO. It says that developing Ashgabat as a regional peacemaking centre in compliance with modern urban development traditions is a priority task Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov has set for the next few years.

While these statements and commentaries are less than adequate to explain either the concept or the mechanism of the regional peace centre in Ashgabat, we at nCa are privy to the fact that Turkmenistan has already set in motion the region-wide consultation process. There is also intensive brain storming within the Turkmen circles of academics, historians and diplomats to prepare at least the outlines of the way the peace centre in Ashgabat would work.

As Turkmenistan is burning midnight oil to do its part of the homework, the UN is also supposedly putting its act together to give the peace centre a good start.

Vladimir Goryaev, Deputy Director of the Asia and the Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs of the UN Secretariat, traveled recently to Turkmenistan to break the news that the UN had agreed to establish the peace centre in Ashgabat.

After his meeting with President Berdymuhamedov, Goryaev had a roundtable with the diplomats and academics in Turkmenistan. The roundtable, and other consultations, with Turkmen officials yielded little information about the nuts and bolts of the peace centre. The only point he stressed repeatedly was that the centre would need to monitor and assess the situation in Afghanistan – to act as eyes and ears of the Secretary General.

One can understand the economy of words exercised by Goryaev. After all, the centre is still nothing more than an idea, albeit an idea that appeals strongly to the entire region.

Lynn Pasco, the head of the department of political affairs of the UN, met Berdymuhamedov on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Bishkek. This meeting was supposedly meant to set the things in motion for the metamorphosis that would culminate in December this year when the centre would finally open its doors for business.

An international conference “Preventive diplomacy and international cooperation” would be held in Ashgabat on 10-11 December 2007. This would most likely coincide with the official opening of the peace centre.

Although the world community has finally decided to set shop in Ashgabat, some people are still asking: Is Turkmenistan the right place to host this centre?

More than anyone else, Turkmenistan seems to be aware of this skepticism. The TDH commentary published on 20 August 2007 says, “Unambiguously, nowadays the neutrality of Turkmenistan is much more effective force than any other forms of pressure upon the countries. Respect – for themselves and other nations, sovereignty, acknowledgment of the right to one’s own way of development complying with national interests are the principles that Turkmenistan invariably adheres to.”

Turkmenistan has shown remarkable capability and political will to broker peace in the region.

The peace, and the present government, in Tajikistan is a direct product of honest brokering of Turkmenistan. The Nuri and Rakhmon (then-Rakhmanov) factions met for several rounds of dialogue in Ashgabat until they reached the coalition formula that is still working for Dushanbe.

Turkmenistan also came very close to bringing peace in Afghanistan.

nCa is a direct witness to the final round of negotiations between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance in Ashgabat in December 2000. Taliban side was led by their education minister, Mulla Mottaqi, and Northern Alliance delegation was headed by Rowan Farhadi, then-Afghan rep in UN.

After two days of exhaustive negotiations, Taliban and Northern Alliance were ready to announce the formation of a provisional coalition government. They had agreed on all questions except one: Who would be the defence minister of the coalition government.

Northern Alliance was insistent that it must have the right to nominate the defence minister but the Taliban were of the view that they would retain defence and in exchange were ready to give four key ministries to Northern Alliance including interior and external affairs.

The sides were almost ready to announce a compromise solution but something happened in the night before the morning of 12 December 2000. Two countries that will not be named here managed to upset the apple cart because peace in Afghanistan was not in their short-term interest back then.

As a result, the talks broke down with lame statements of eagerness to continue dialogue from Taliban and the Northern Alliance.

Whatever the outcome of the dialogue, Turkmenistan proved beyond doubt that it has the ability and skills to broker peace in the region.

Despite the longest non-CIS borders for a former soviet state, Turkmenistan has never had any problems with Afghanistan and Iran.

Moreover, the internal structure of Turkmenistan, standing on solid foundation that is invisible to casual observers, has already stood the test of time.

The sudden demise of President Niyazov in December 2006 was the ultimate test for the country and the system. The perfect preservation of law and order and the smooth transition of the government were directly out of the textbook for exemplary statecraft.

Turkmenistan has everything that the regional peace centre may need to function. But how would it actually do the business of preventive diplomacy?

To be continued . . .