HOPES HIGH, DISPUTES STILL DEEP AT BSEC
EmÝne Kart Ýstanbul
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 26 2007
Leaders of 12 Black Sea nations gathered in Ýstanbul at a high-profile
summit yesterday to discuss "new horizons" for better trade ties
and deeper economic cooperation, but there was no major breakthrough
among member states on issues of deep-running territorial and energy
disputes.
"We are resolved to further consolidate the BSEC’s role as an active
and reliable partner in regional and international affairs. We are
ready to meet the challenges ahead," a statement released after the
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) summit at
Ýstanbul’s Ottoman-era Cýraðan Palace read. The statement also said
the BSEC leaders "reaffirm our willingness to deepen our cooperation
in the area of energy with due regard to interests of energy producing,
consuming and transit countries."
In his address to the BSEC leaders at a luncheon, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan also called on the regional countries to work
to produce solutions to the Black Sea regional disputes via regional
mechanisms. Erdoðan said regional conflicts constitute a major obstacle
for development and cooperation in the region and called for collective
will to overcome them.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, attending the BSEC’s 15th
anniversary summit along with President Vladimir Putin, made clear
Russia opposed the idea of using the BSEC to broker solutions to the
region’s bitter political disputes. "Any attempts to politicize its
work are counterproductive. The conflicts should be solved in formats
that have been approved by the United Nations," Lavrov said.
The BSEC was created 15 years ago as part of a Turkish initiative
to foster cooperation among the Black Sea nations following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union. The organization is now up to the
challenge to promote stability and economic ties between nations that
belonged to opposite camps during the Cold War years and that now
have conflicting interests on a number of issues. Erdoðan and Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul addressed BSEC foreign ministers earlier in the
day, expressed hope that regional disputes could be resolved through
regional means and said this would help the region to discover its
true potential. Gul proposed informal talks on the sidelines of
formal foreign ministerial meetings of the BSEC as a way to tackle
regional problems.
A simmering energy competition between Turkey and Russia was a key
item in talks Erdoðan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer had separately
with Putin. The two influential actors within the BSEC, Turkey and
Russia, are at odds after Putin recently signed major energy deals
with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, convincing them to opt for Russia
in sending their gas and oil reserves to outside world at the expense
of other projects that give Turkey a transit role.
In addition, Russia’s Gazprom and Italian oil firm Eni unveiled a
plan for a major new pipeline to take Russian gas under the Black
Sea to Europe, again undermining an earlier plan to extend a Turkish
route. The 900-kilometer "South Stream" pipeline would come ashore
in Bulgaria and then branch off to Austria and Slovenia in one spur
and to southern Italy in another.
Prime Ministry sources, speaking after a 45-minute meeting between
Erdoðan and Putin, said the two countries agreed to improve relations
on all issues, including energy, and to maintain close cooperation on
regional issues, without elaborating. Energy Minister Hilmi Guler
also attended the talks, while Putin and Erdoðan had 15-minute
tete-a-tete talks.
Russia’s recent steps to expand energy pipelines are part of Russia’s
efforts to prevent creation of rival routes that would bypass Russia.
"All projects, small and big, should be economically viable; otherwise,
they will be just idle talk bringing disappointment," Putin said,
in apparent reference to the rival projects.
Other members of the BSEC made their deep disputes public during the
15th anniversary talks. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev complained
that 20 percent of Azeri territory was under Armenian occupation,
referring to Nagorno-Karabakh enclave occupied by Armenian troops in
the past decade. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, for his
part, defended the occupation.
The leaders of Serbia and Albania — both members of the BSEC though
they are not on the Black Sea — also sparred at Monday’s meeting
over Kosovo, the mainly ethnic Albanian province that is seeking
independence from Belgrade.
Cooperation with international partners
Yesterday’s BSEC summit also ended with a call to improve cooperation
with international partners, particularly with the EU. "As we move
to a new period of expanding relations between the BSEC and the EU,
we confirm the importance of establishing a strategic relationship
between the two organizations," said the summit’s final statement.
"That interaction could be an integral part of efforts toward creating
a more prosperous and secure Europe without dividing lines."
BSEC comprises the Black Sea littoral states — Bulgaria, Georgia,
Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine — as well as Albania, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova and Serbia. Armenia, which has no
diplomatic ties with Turkey, was the only country to be represented
by a foreign minister. All other nations sent presidents or prime
ministers.
Turkey, which currently chairs the BSEC, wants to give a new impetus
to the organization. It wants to see greater efforts in transport,
energy, trade, environmental protection and combating organized
crime. One major objective on the BSEC agenda is upgrading transport
infrastructure, including a projected 7,500-kilometer ring road along
the Black Sea coast and regular maritime links between member states.
Removing legal barriers to trade is another priority, with a special
meeting on the issue scheduled for September.
Both President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the host of the summit, and Prime
Minister Erdoðan had a number of bilateral meetings with attending
leaders, but there was no direct contact between the two. Sezer hosted
a dinner for the guests, while Prime Minister Erdoðan separately
hosted a lunch. Sezer declined to attend the lunch and Erdoðan did
not show up at Sezer’s dinner.
–Boundary_(ID_dSlAwaslJEDvmOTycjclSA)–