Todays Zaman, 22.06.10,Turkey, Kazakhstan offer joint plan to assist Kyrgyzstan

Turkey and Kazakhstan on Monday lent support to Kyrgyz leader Roza Otunbayeva's plan to hold a referendum while stating that they were ready to offer a joint action plan to be implemented following the referendum in a bid to help resolve the unrest in Kyrgyzstan, where several contradictory death tolls have been announced thus far.

Otunbayeva pledged on Monday to press ahead with a referendum in six days' time for the sake of the country's stability, despite calls to postpone it after a wave of ethnic violence. In Astana following talks with his Kazakh counterpart, Kanat Saudabayev, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu made a brief statement to reporters, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkey and Kazakhstan should coordinate their future assistance to Kyrgyzstan together, Davutoğlu said, while recalling that Turkey last week dispatched a special envoy, Fatih Ceylan, to Kyrgyzstan to meet with Otunbayeva and Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Almazbek Atanbayev.

The minister said the results of Ceylan’s meetings with Kyrgyz officials were discussed with Kazakh officials during Monday’s talks in Astana.

Turkey and Kazakhstan have agreed on a joint action plan to be implemented following the referendum scheduled to take place on June 27. This agreement came following talks on what could be done for Kyrgyzstan in regards to the fields of politics, diplomacy, economy and security, Davutoğlu said, without elaborating.

He noted that the two countries would share the details of this plan with friendly and brotherly countries after finalizing their studies, Anatolia said.

“We hope the June 27 referendum in Kyrgyzstan will take place. Immediately after the referendum we plan, together with Kazakhstan, to prepare joint activities to show our commitment to assistance to Kyrgyzstan,” Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Davutoğlu as saying.

“As the incumbent OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] and CICA [Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia] chairmen, we will prepare joint action in the spheres of economics, diplomacy and security,” Davutoğlu continued.

Turkey is determined to do “everything possible to stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan,” the minister reiterated.