Zaman.org
December 20

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his Uzbekistan visit would open a new page in Turkey-Uzbekistan relations.

Erdogan met Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov, where the two discussed many issues, ranging from security and terrorism to bilateral trade.

The tension between the two countries that was experienced since 1999 ended with Erdogan's visit to Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent.

Erdogan realized the first official visit to Uzbekistan since April 1998 and met Karimov for nearly an hour. In 1999, Karimov had withdrawn Uzbek students from Turkish military academies because an Uzbek opposition figure was in Turkey.

After the meeting, referring to Erdogan's remark on the interdependency of the two countries' security, Karimov said that he ascribed great importance to those words.

Erdogan said the two countries' security depended on each other. Karimov stated they might send F-16 fighter jet pilots to Turkey for training.

He added that Uzbekistan was aware of the Turkish army's authority and they were willing to learn about its anti-terror techniques, particularly in mountainous regions. Karimov also noted that Turkey had given a $2-million dollar military assistance package to Uzbekistan.

Erdogan explained that it was impossible to obtain a 100 percent result in the fight against terrorism by adding that even Pentagon, which is known as the most secure area in the world, was hit.

Erdogan drew attention to the point that international cooperation against terror was a must and he said Turkey was ready to give support to Uzbekistan.

During the two leaders' meeting, the situation in Afghanistan was also taken up and Erdogan informed that they looked at the possibilities of how to contribute to Afghanistan's prosperity and development.

Trade matters were also talked about in yesterday's meeting and Karimov stressed that a 40 percent increase in bilateral relations was recorded. He hoped of more increasing relations in 2004.

53 foreign companies in Uzbekistan belong to Turks and their total investment is worth US$1 billion dollars.

Erdogan explained that the visit to Uzbekistan was realized with a delegation of 200 businessmen. The Prime Minister also informed that he gave a directive to Turkish Airlines (THY) to increase the number of flights to Uzbekistan from four to seven.

Upon a question, Erdogan noted that Uzbekistan would be positively influenced by Turkey's European Union (EU) membership.

During the meetings, by referring to Ataturk's words, "Without economic independence, political independence cannot be achieved," Karimov said that, "Our independence experience proved how true these words were."

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