Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 13 2010

Kazakhstan lends support to Turkish efforts for Caucasus stability

Photo: Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu and his wife, Sare, are
greeted by students from the NurOrda Kazakh-Turkish High School during
a visit on Friday.

Kazakhstan has voiced its support for Turkey’s efforts to create
stability and a spirit of cooperation in the Caucasia region through
joint efforts by countries in the region.

On the last day of a three-day official visit to Astana at the
invitation of his Kazakh counterpart, Kanat Saudabayev, Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu had talks with Kazakh Senate Speaker
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday.
The process of establishing the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform (KÄ°Ä°P), a process initiated by Turkey, was on agenda of talks
between Tokayev and DavutoÄ?lu, the Anatolia news agency reported. `We
consider Turkey’s proposal for Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform as a positive idea and we support it,’ Tokayev was quoted as
saying by Anatolia.

Ankara’s proposal for the platform — which is aimed at bringing
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia and Turkey around the same table
— came after a regional crisis erupted following a Georgian military
offensive in its Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia in
August 2008.

With the planned regional platform, Turkey aims to create an
environment in which regional partners will discuss and resolve
conflicts in the troubled Caucasus with a spirit of regional
ownership. Tokayev, meanwhile, praised DavutoÄ?lu as an active
diplomat, while underlining Turkey’s achievements in the foreign
policy arena. For his part, DavutoÄ?lu highlighted the importance
Ankara attaches to Kazakhstan’s one-year chairmanship of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which
formally began last month.

`Kazakhstan is a powerful country in its region. It is a symbol of
confidence and stability. I believe that your chairmanship will be the
stage for important developments in the region,’ DavutoÄ?lu said.
`Kazakhstan’s successes in the international arena make us happy too,’
he added, while expressing his satisfaction regarding his contacts
during the Kazakhstan visit.

13 February 2010, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ANKARA