The Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM) held a brain-storm meeting on 14th of February, on the topic of “Eurasian Perspectives-Turkey and Eurasian Developments”.

Director of AVİM, retired Ambassador Alev KILIÇ made an opening speech covering the agenda items, the developments  in Eurasia and its rising importance in terms of its political and economic weight. Following the opening speech, H.E. Ambassador Terhi HAKALA, Director General of the Department for Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the MFA of Finland, Honorable Professor Oya AKGÖNENÇ and H.E. Ayşe Ambassador Sumru NOYAN delivered their speeches and presentations. The first speaker, H.E. Ambassador Terhi HAKALA, who has experience in the OSCE (The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) and in the Finnish foreign service, delivered a speech on “Challenging Eurasian Integration Process”. The second speaker, Honorable Professor Oya AKGÖNENÇ, whose work focuses on Turkish foreign policy and political developments in the Middle East and who has experience in the Turkish Parliament and the World Bank, delivered a speech on “Eurasian Neighborhood and Interaction with Turkey”. The third speaker, H.E. Ambassador Ayşe Sumru Noyan, who is a diplomat 25 years of experience in the Turkish Foreign Service and 12 years of experience in the United Nations and who was the First Deputy Secretary-General of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation between the years 2009-2012, focused on “Inter Regional Cooperation Organizations and their Impact on the Preservation of Peace and Security.”

During the meeting, the speakers mainly touched upon the roles of the International Organizations focusing on the Eurasian region, the important actors in the region such as Russia, European Union, Turkey and their positions towards Eurasia. For instance, European Union’s Eastern Partnership policies with 6 countries – Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan – and EU’s and Russia’s policies with regard to the current developments in these countries, mainly Ukraine, and whether these countries will deepen their cooperation with Russia through the Customs Union agreement or with EU in the framework of the DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement) were among the discussion topics.

Another agenda item was Turkey’s and Russia’s policies and influences of these countries’ new visions on the issues of international affairs. Both of the countries have been affected by the developments in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) – the Arab Spring – and the economic crisis. This topic has been concluded with a discussion on Turkey’s and Russia’s commonalities and possible areas that they can work together, since they will complement each other.

Black Sea Economic Cooperation also came up to the agenda. The main points discussed were the organization’s potential to provide a platform for countries in the region in terms of representation and their cooperation on important issues such as energy and counter-terrorism and its role in maximizing benefits through collaboration. The need to revise the vision of the organization and the importance of the member countries’ wills concluded the speech and the meeting. In the framework of the other international organizations the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (S-CİCA) was underlined as well.

Question and answers session followed the presentations.

Özge Öğütcü – Hande Apakan

AVİM