Anis H. Bajrektarevic is a Professor and a Chairperson for International Law and Global

INTERESTS & INFLUENCES OF MAJOR EXTERNAL ACTORS IN CENTRAL ASIA
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TuRkEY
Turkey shares Turkic ancestry with Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and
explains the long lasting commonly shared his-
toric roots between Turkey and the four Central
Asian republics. The idea of Pan-Turkism be-
tween the five countries (including Xinjiang
Province in China) has been entertained.
Turkey’s relationship with Central Asia is fo-
cused on economics and regional cooperation:
“a working democracy and free-market econ-
omy; political and economic reform process;
political and economic stability and prosperity
in the region; …an environment conducive to
regional cooperation; to support their vocation
toward Euro-Atlantic institutions, and to assist
them to benefit from their own energy re-
sources” as stated by now Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu (then Foreign Affairs Minister) in
2012.[138] 
The collapse of the Soviet Union motivated the
Turkish leaders to immediately develop friendly
relations and strong ties with the Central Asian
states forming an unofficial pan-Turkic alliance.
The mutual sympathy originates from the same
ethnicity and culture, the Turkic language fam-
ily— Central Asia countries’ culture was sup-
pressed by the Soviet system as the Soviet
system provided a singular ideological identity.
Although the Turkish desire for sustainable and
influential investments as well as religious, cul-
tural and educational power in Central Asia was
high, the financial resources were rather limited
in the 1990s. 
After Central Asia’s independence, Turkey let
the newly independent states feel that they
were Third World. In the late 1990s, Turkey real-
ized that their first approach was not helpful
and it had to completely change the foreign
policy towards Central Asia in order to keep bi-
lateral relations.
Regarding Turkmenistan, Turkey was the first
country to recognize the new independent
state and was the first country to open an em-
bassy in Ashgabat.[139] Turkey has recently be-
come Turkmenistan’s largest trade and
investment partner with trade totaling 3.5 bil-
lion USD in 2012.[140] President Berdy-
mukhamedov stated that the issue of a free
trading zone for Turkish forms operating in spe-
cific parts of Turkmenistan is considered. The
year of 2012 marked a significant increase in re-
lations as Turkmenistan’s President visited
Turkey and Turkey’s President visited Turk-
menistan in 2013. There are also 600 Turkish
companies registered in Turkmenistan and
“Turkish companies assumed contracting work
in the country, totaling more than 34 billion
USD.”[141] 
Turkey’s development aid programs for Central
Asia have also rapidly developed and big steps
have been taken in the fields of educational, so-
cial and cultural cooperation projects.
Turkey has also expressed interest in joining the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and
Kazakh President Nazarbayev extended Turkey
and invitation to join the EEU.