Caucasus expert: "Turkey should set up trade and cultural relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia" / Ticari ve kültürel ilişkiler kurmalı

Source: yeniadana.net (Turkish)

That's a nice surprise to see Hasan Kanbolat make the news. I listen to him and the host of Stratejik Bakış on TRT all the time and I'm a big fan (especially because his Turkish is nice and easy to understand compared to a lot of other guests that tend to ramble on and talk too fast). I'm not sure if I got the point across below when translating the point he was making about Palestinians compared to Abkhazians and South Ossetians, which is basically that if Turkey is going to have relations with an as yet unrecognized state like Palestine on the basis of human rights, that it should do the same with Abkhazia and South Ossetia while at the same time maintaining that this is based on human rights concerns and doesn't mean that it's recognizing them as independent nations. It's easy enough to make that argument on the basis of human rights when conditions in an area are so bad.

ASAM: "Türkiye Kafkasya'da çok büyük çaba sarfetmeli"

Turkey needs to expend a lot of effort in the Caucasus

Avrasya Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi (ASAM) Kafkasya Uzmanı Hasan Kanbolat, ''Türkiye Abhazya ve Güney Osetya ile ticari ve kültürel ilişkiler kurmalı'' dedi.

Eurasia Strategic Research Center (ASAM) Caucasus Specialist Hasan Kanbolat said that "Turkey needs to set up trade and cultural relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

Kanbolat, Kafkas Kültür Derneğinin konuğu olarak geldiği Adana'da yaptığı konuşmada, Türkiye'nin Gürcistan'ın toprak bütünlüğünü desteklemeye devam edeceğini, ancak Güney Osetya'da yaşanan olayların ardından Türkiye'nin sadece Tiflis odaklı bir politika yürütmemesi gerektiğini gösterdiğini savundu.

Kanbolat gave a talk in Adana as a guest of the Caucasus Cultural Association, where he maintained that Turkey would continue to support the territorial integrity of Georgia, but that after the events in South Ossetia Turkey showed a need for a policy not simply focused on Tbilisi.

Abhazya ve Güney Osetya'ya karşı Türkiye'nin politikalar geliştirmeye başlamasının Türkiye'nin lehine olacağını vurgulayan Kanbolat, şunları kaydetti:

Kanbolat maintained that the beginning of a development in Turkish policy towards Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be to Turkey's advantage, saying the following:

''Bu politikaların ana temeli insan hakları ve akrabalık ilişkileri olmalıdır. Bu çerçevede Gazze'deki bir Filistinlinin nasıl seyahat özgürlüğü engellenemez ise Abhazya'daki ya da Güney Osetya'daki insanların seyahat özgürlüğünün tekrar sağlanması için Türkiye'nin çaba sarfetmesi gerekir.''

"The main foundation of this policy needs to be human rights and relations. Here if Palestinians in Gaza can't have their freedom of movement restricted, Turkey needs to expend effort to provide freedom of movement once again to people in Abkhazia and South Ossetia too."

Kanbolat, Abhazya'nın paranın hareketliliğinde önemli bir merkeze dönüşme ihtimalinin yüksek olduğunu, bu sebeple serbest ticaretin olduğu, vergilerin azaltıldığı bir sistemin kurulabileceğini ifade ederek, ''Kafkasya Türkiye'nin dış politika öncelikleri arasına girmiştir. Türkiye, Abhazya ve Güney Osetya ile ticari ve kültürel ilişkiler kurmalı'' diye konuştu.

Kanbolat mentioned that there was a large probability of Abkhazia turning into an important centre of monetary activity and that due to this a system of free trade with reduced taxes could be set up, saying that "The Caucasus has made its way to the middle of Turkey's foreign policy priorities. Turkey needs to set up trade and cultural relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia."


21.09.2008