Second Meeting of Security Consultations among Member States of the Turkic Council was held on 5 March 2014 in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan with the participation of high level officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Member States. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, H.E. Alexei Volkov, opened the consultations and summarized his views on the significance of conducting such meetings in such a volatile security environment in the region and beyond.
Deputy Secretary General Gismat Gozalov briefed Parties about developments pertaining to the security issues on the agenda of the Turkic Council since the first meeting of security consultations and briefly underlined the road map ahead.
High-level officials, drawing attention to the damaging impacts of regional conflicts and their spill-over effects for Member States and in the region, discussed the latest development of Ukraine, Syria as well as efforts for peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Cyprus issue. They reaffirmed the need to find comprehensive and result-oriented measures to fight against terrorism and trans-national threats under the guidance of relevant UN Resolutions. Regarding the situation in Afghanistan, they expressed continuation of their firm support after 2014 that will be a pivotal year for Afghanistan and Afghan people, since it will host the Afghanistan Presidential and Provincial Council Elections, withdrawal of US Forces and ISAF from the country and NATO’s handing over full responsibility of security to the Afghan forces. They confirmed that peace and reconciliation process in this country should be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned, Afghan-driven and inclusive of all segments of society. Stressing the achievements of “Istanbul Process on Regional Security and Cooperation for a Secure and Stable Afghanistan” for the enhancement of security and stability in Afghanistan through political consultations and implementation of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), they touched upon the Turkic Council’s bid to take a more active role in the Process. Furthermore, they drew attention to the need to increase cooperation among our Member States within international and regional organizations such as the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, ECO, OIC and CICA with a special emphasis to strengthen concerted efforts of the Member States for the bid of Turkic Council to obtain an observer status at UN General Assembly and OIC.
The meeting was ended with the official dinner hosted by H.E. Alexei Volkov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan.
