Zaman
December 22

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the large entourage that accompanied him were not at all disappointed in Uzbekistan. Erdogan, talking cautiously before the scheduled meetings and not revealing his agenda, worked very hard with Uzbek leader Islam Karimov to significantly improve relations between the two countries. The talks were marked by an accord on economic cooperation and a joint strategy to combat terrorism.

Issues showing the cooling of the relations were discussed in details and a consensus was reached in most of them. The implementation of a visa regime by Uzbekistan, even on diplomatic passports, and the collection of taxes on air tickets unilaterally, were some of the small but important issues that were tackled.

We learned that Erdogan, during the joint-press conference with Karimov, repeated several times that we should demonstrate our 'brotherhood' in deeds not in words. Erdogan and Karimov shared the same idea on the high economic yields, but also agreed that this amount was below the full potential. The Turkish prime minister, emphasizing that he had never seen such a large entourage accompany him on any of his trips to 60 countries, reiterated that Turkish entrepreneurs regarded Uzbekistan very different from the others.

The cooperation in the fight against terrorism was also significant. Karimov, lauding and repeating Erdogan's remarks at the same press conference, said, "The security of Uzbekistan is the security of Turkey." The Uzbek leader also recited the now famous Erdogan adage: "Terrorism does not have a religion, language or nation." Karimov, pointing out that in the essence of Islam there is tolerance and enlightenment, emphasized that Islam was not closer to terrorism than the other religions. Both Erdogan and Karimov were of the idea that Europe was practicing double standards on terrorism and would not match its words with deeds. The two leaders complained bitterly about this. Karimov noted that Uzbekistan wanted to benefit from Turkey's experience in the fight against terrorism, especially from the special forces and commandos.

Karimov, interrupting the translators three times and correcting their mistakes, said:" Actually we could communicate better without the help of these translators. Our peoples speak almost the same language." And these remarks were the best summary of the meetings and the visit. Our common sympathy and common denomination have not been reflected in our relations in recent years. It seems that Erdogan's visit will play an important role in eliminating this undesirable situation.

---