Heads of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan arrived in Kyrgyzstan yesterday for the Fourth Consultative Meeting of Heads of State of Central Asia. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov arrived in Kyrgyzstan today morning. The main part of the meeting is being held at the Cholpon-Ata resort town today.
Radio Liberty says they will discuss economic and political cooperation after recent unrest in the region and moves by Moscow to increase Russia's influence in the former Soviet republics.
This summit is the first meeting of heads of state in the region since Russia — which is not a participant in the meeting — launched its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24.
It is to be noted that previous summits have produced just general agreements on cooperation and nothing else.
According to Radio Liberty, analysts say this year's edition is "very important" for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, all of which have seen social unrest in the past two years, as well as Turkmenistan.
"I think Central Asian countries are now realizing that they would be stronger if they worked together, especially in their relations with Russia, China, and the United States…," Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, president of the Central Eurasian Studies Society, told RFE/RL.
“It’s a very important time for Central Asia right now given what's going on in the environment. I think the leaders of the region understand that they are better able to preserve their sovereignty and their independence when they work together,” Murtazashvili said.
According to him, Russia's influence is declining in the region. “…I think what the war in Ukraine illustrated from a moral perspective was that it is very difficult to cooperate with Russia if you're Kazakhstan and you're looking at what Russia did in Ukraine and you're looking at Russia's justification for it. As we know, Putin's justification for the invasion of Ukraine could just as easily apply to Kazakhstan as it could to Ukraine. So, this leaves countries feeling very vulnerable,” the expert noted.
“Another issue is that Russia's military performance has been very weak. And a lot of people anticipated that Russia would have a really quick victory in Ukraine. And that hasn't happened. Many countries in Central Asia were looking to Russia as a security guarantor able to provide security, within the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization). Look at the thousands of Russian troops that were in Tajikistan on the border with Afghanistan. This was seen as a way to protect the region from incursions from militants,” Murtazashvili added.
