Today's visit is widely considered a positive result of intensified Turkish efforts in recent years to improve relations with Central Asian countries. The fact that Berdymukhamedov is reciprocating Gül's December 2007 visit to Turkmenistan within the short space of three months has been welcomed by Ankara, with a senior Turkish official describing this situation as indicative of "Turkmenistan's will for improving relations with Ankara."
Analysts, meanwhile, call this visit "a chance for Turkey," stressing that this two-day visit will yield both diplomatic and commercial consequences. Turkey has tried to project itself as a model democracy for the Central Asian countries, but in recent years the republics have turned toward the United States, Russia and China for economic partnerships. Still, Ankara has improved its political ties with the Turkic countries of Central Asia in last few years.
Gül's December visit was the first presidential-level visit from Ankara to Ashgabat and took place after a six-year hiatus in presidential meetings between the two nations. Gül's predecessor, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, did pay a single visit to Turkmenistan during his term in office. The sole meeting between Sezer and late President Saparmurat Niyazov, who died suddenly in December 2006, took place in İstanbul in 2001 on the sidelines of a summit bringing together the heads of state of Turkic countries.
Turkmenistan was represented by its ambassador to Turkey at a later summit of heads of state of Turkic nations held in Antalya in November 2006. Turkmenistan did not sign the summit's final declaration.
In July Turkey signed a preliminary deal with neighboring Iran to carry natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to Europe. That accord was seen as raising prospects for a project to build a 3,300-kilometer pipeline, known as Nabucco, to supply gas from the Middle East and Central Asia to the European Union via Turkey, bypassing Russia. Ankara aspires to become a regional energy hub between Western consumers and Eastern gas and oil producers.
A senior Turkish official, speaking under customary condition of anonymity, told Today's Zaman that "friendship and brotherhood" are the basis of bilateral relations between Ankara and Ashgabat, adding that the Turkish side aims to improve economic relations with Turkmenistan while also assisting in the country's improvement.
During Gül's visit in December, the two sides agreed to establish a joint economic cooperation council to report regularly to the two presidents about their work. Five or six ministers from each government would be assigned to work in the joint governmental commission between the two countries.
Hasan Selim Özertem, a Eurasia expert from the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), underlined that Berdymukhamedov's visit has two significant aspects. "The first one is a diplomatic message; Turkmenistan shows that it wants to raise the level of relations to its level in 1990s. The other aspect is that the visit will lay the ground for better economic relations between Ankara and Ashgabat. Via this will displayed by its president, Turkmenistan will open up to Europe and the United States through Ankara," Özertem told Today's Zaman.
Gökçen Oğan, a Central Asia expert at the Ankara-based Eurasian Center for Strategic Research (ASAM), interpreted Berdymukhamedov's visit as a sign that "Turkey's efforts for a more active Central Asia politics have not gone unanswered."
"The visit is symbolically very important. The bilateral relations between the two countries had been almost frozen during the former term. The Berdymukhamedov term is a chance for Ankara," Oğan told Today's Zaman. He also emphasized that the Turkmen president had attributed high importance to relations with Turkey for improving its relations with the European Union, particularly in the field of energy.
A few days before the visit, a Turkmen government source told Reuters that Berdymukhamedov would discuss the Nabucco project during his visit to the Turkish capital.
Turkmenistan, Central Asia's largest gas producer, exports most of its gas through Russia, but the EU is lobbying for it to use an alternative route. The West particularly wants Turkmenistan, which borders Iran, to join the US-backed Nabucco pipeline project. A government official who asked not to be named said Berdymukhamedov would discuss the project during his March 24-25 visit to Turkey.
"The trans-Caspian pipeline, or Nabucco if you prefer, is on the agenda," the official said. "But during this visit the discussion will probably be limited to an exchange of opinions." The official said Turkmenistan was ready to consider any viable export routes. "We are pragmatic."
Turkmenistan sells all of its exported gas to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, but is considering other options such as Nabucco and a pipeline to China. The EU and the United States are strong supporters of the Nabucco pipeline. The project, however, has been slowed by high costs and uncertainty over its supply sources. Moscow dealt a heavy blow to Nabucco last fall after reaching a deal with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan for those countries' Caspian Sea gas supplies to flow through Russia, draining the main potential source for the EU-backed pipeline.
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