Central Asia/Russia


	June 29, 2002	atimes.com

Central Asia/Russia

Black Sea nations forge ties
By Nadire Mater

ISTANBUL - A three-day meeting of leaders from the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) in Istanbul ended Thursday with new hopes of ending the many problems in the region, which include terrorism and inter-country conflicts.

The BSEC brought together leaders from Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Turkey, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania, who all pledged to seek paths to peace.

The agreement by leaders to tackle "terrorism and organized crime" relates particularly to the Caucasian region that has seen a spate of conflicts. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in conflict over the majority Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave within Azerbaijan territory. Much of the area came under Armenian domination after a war in 1991-2, but the enclave is still a point of conflict between the two.

Georgia and Russia have been in conflict over Russian "protection" for the self-declared republics of Osetia and Abkhazia, both formally parts of Georgian territory. Turkey and Russia are at odds over Russian claims that Turkey is providing protection to Chechen militants. Turkey and Greece are engaged in an old dispute for control of the Aegean continental shelf and over the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Several of these conflicts were discussed at the meeting. Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders came together to discuss solutions to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkish foreign minister Ismail Cem and Armenian foreign minister Vartan Oskanian held separate talks over relations between their two countries. Relations between Turkey and Armenia had deteriorated in the wake of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

"I cannot say that we have entered a new era in Turkish-Armenian relations, but we have taken a new step forward," Oskanian said after his meeting with Cem.

In their final communique, the BSEC leaders converged to denounce "all forms and aspects of terrorism that threaten peace and security," and declared their determination to take "all necessary steps against terrorism and organized crime."

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer spoke in his inaugural speech Tuesday of the "necessity of furthering economic relations to protect the member countries from the negative effects of globalization." It is time the BSEC "reaches its natural borders," he said.

The leaders in their communique also called for increased cooperation with the European Union, which is considering inclusion of some BSEC countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

The summit also hosted an International Energy Conference organized by the BSEC Business Council. The conference discussed oil and gas extraction, and transportation issues in the Caspian, Black Sea and Mediterranean regions.

Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and Greece are competing for new transportation routes for oil extracted from the Caspian Sea. Turkey, backed by the US, wants a pipeline from Baku across Turkey to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Yumurtalik. Russia has proposed pumping oil to Novorossysk and then transporting it by sea. Other options were also proposed at the conference.

The BSEC was set up at a meeting in Istanbul in 1992. "The past decade has proven the value of BSEC's value as a platform for understanding and cooperation," leaders said in their communique.

Not everyone agrees. In its tenth year, the BSEC remains far from the its glorious beginning in 1992 when former Turkish president Turgut Ozal called the Black Sea countries together with Albania and Greece to form an economic cooperation based on "democracy, market economy and open society."

(Inter Press Service)