“A year ago, perceptions were based on fear. As time goes on, fears subside and rationalism prevails,” Alesksandre Kukhianidze from the Tbilisi State University told Sunday's Zaman during his participation in the Turkey-Georgia Relations Workshop organized by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) in İstanbul on July 22-24.
However, Kukhianidze added that Georgians have been cautious about what such a platform could bring, although their initial doubts have diminished. “Georgia is small and between two big powers. The Russian and Ottoman Empires' dominance do still occupy the memories of Georgians.
On the one hand, Georgians perceive Turkey as a modern state which is inclined toward the European Union, but on the other Turkey goes to our enemy Russia to negotiate,” he said, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Aug. 13 visit last year to Moscow, where he made public his proposal for the establishment of a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform.
“What kind of platform is it? That's what we thought. The Russians and us will be at the same table when the Russian soldiers are on our soil?” he said, explaining the reaction in his country.
Tensions exploded on Aug. 8 of last year when Georgia tried to take back control of the rebel region of South Ossetia with tanks and rockets, and Russia sent forces to repel the assault. Fighting raged around South Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali.
Indeed, conflicts between Georgia and South Ossetia and another breakaway republic, Abkhazia, had begun when the Soviet Union broke up about two decades ago. Violence has flared occasionally, but signs were increasingly pointing to a major showdown.
“We want to make sure this platform will not provide a space for Turkey and Russia against small nations like Georgia,” Kukhianidze said, adding that Turkey, by not allowing US aid ships bound for Georgia to pass through the Bosporus last year, has given the impression that the Black Sea should be under the exclusive influence of Turkey and Russia.
Prime Minister Erdoğan was in Tbilisi on Aug. 14 to talk with the Georgian leaders, and they eventually were part of the platform, but some reservations remain. Kukhianidze said the US, which is providing the most assistance to Georgia, and the European Union should have been included in the platform.
The US administration was skeptical about the platform at first, but after Turkish diplomats explained their goals in detail, it changed its stance. Plus, it was not easy for the other Caucasus states to accept the platform as a useful arena because of various bilateral conflicts among them. Yet, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia welcomed the idea.
Months-long efforts by Ankara to bring Turkey, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia together around the same table yielded a result with a technical-level meeting between these five countries being held in Helsinki in December of last year.
Later, two more meetings were held, said Savaş Barkçin, a senior advisor to Erdoğan. He told Sunday's Zaman that a new meeting of the technocrats is coming up in September.
“We are working to establish specialized commissions on such topics as the economy and politics. Our priority is not about being result-oriented at this time. We are working on confidence building,” Barkçin said.
He also added that the platform is not an alternative to the current organizations such as the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Why the PM Erdoğan kept the platform at the local level and did not go to the US and the EU officials for their participation is understandable said Bülent Aras, foreign policy coordinator for SETA.
“The United States and the European Union have been already involved in conflict resolutions through several initiatives like the OSCE, NATO and so on. Turkey has tried to keep it at the local level to build trust among them,” Aras said.
He also said the platform has triggered and supported the acceleration of some other processes like the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts to mediate the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nevertheless, Georgian perspectives differ, said Ghia Nodia, director at Ilia Chavchavadze State University's School of Caucasus Studies.
“We think that the only credible support for Georgia's security can come from the United States, NATO and the European Union,” he said.
Additionally, according to Nodia, Turkey cannot be an intermediary between Georgia and Russia because Russia would not consider it.
“It is in Russia's interest to somehow take Turkey away from the West,” he said. “In the case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, yes, Turkey can assume an intermediary role. But still Turkey would have to make sure that Russia would not be annoyed because the area is de facto Russian territory.”
But he said that Georgia is interested in having better relations with the Abkhaz and Circassian diaspora in Turkey and Turkey can play a role in that regard.
Then again, in an annual progress report released at the end of last year, the EU noted that Turkey's importance to the EU has increased in the areas of energy, and regional security and conflict prevention in the Caucasus. It said Turkey had played a "constructive role" in the Caucasus and the Middle East by proposing a Caucasus cooperation platform after the August crisis.
Diplomacy
