From: Abraham Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Oct 04 2000 - 11:36:18 EDT
UZBEKISTAN, TURKEY SEEK TO OVERCOME ESTRANGEMENT. Visiting
Tashkent on 2-3 October, Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem
held talks with his Uzbek counterpart, Abdulaziz Komilov, and
President Islam Karimov, the "Turkish Daily News" reported.
Those talks focused on how to double bilateral trade turnover
from $300 million in 1999 to $600 million in 2001 and on
joint measures to combat terrorism in Central Asia. Karimov
told Cem that Russia exaggerates that threat in an attempt to
bolster its influence in the region, but at the same time, he
requested help from Turkey in training Uzbek army officers.
Relations between the two countries cooled several years ago
because of the presence in Turkey of Uzbek oppositionist
Muhammed Solih, and Uzbekistan's restrictions on the
activities of Turkish businessmen and closure of Turkish-run
schools in Uzbekistan. But Cem characterized the current
relationship as "balanced and sound [and] based on rational
considerations and shared interests." LF
|
