On 12 December 1995, the fiftieth anniversary session of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted resolution A/50/80 “Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan”, which is historic for Turkmenistan. This event became the starting point of a new era in the centuries-old history of the Turkmen people. The choice of permanent neutrality as the cornerstone of its foreign and domestic policies that are inseparably linked became a natural reflection of the centuries-old historical experience and traditions of the Turkmen people, their inherent qualities of openness, peacefulness, receptiveness to everything new, intolerance of arrogance and xenophobia.
The past 30 years offer an opportunity to objectively assess the role and significance of the status of neutrality for the national destiny of Turkmenistan, as well as for the Central Asian region and territories far beyond. By virtue of my service at the UN Secretariat, I was directly involved in the preparatory work at the UN to promote the issue of permanent neutrality of Turkmenistan, including the drafting of the General Assembly resolution and a number of other documents related to the procedure for its promotion and consideration.
Choosing the correct and pragmatic agenda item and the main committee of the General Assembly that was supposed to review the draft resolution submitted by Turkmenistan and its co-sponsors was an important element of this work. The recognition of Turkmenistan’s status of permanent neutrality by the UN was an unprecedented international legal act, and it naturally raised many questions from other states and required well thought-out and politically calibrated steps. Under time pressure, it was necessary to consult with dozens of permanent representatives of member states and convince them to cosponsor the resolution or, at the very least, not to obstruct its adoption.
Turkmenistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Aksoltan Atayeva handled this complex and delicate task brilliantly. In record time, her persistent and determined efforts found a positive response from an impressive group of her colleagues – permanent representatives, who expressed their readiness to support the draft resolution on behalf of their countries.
The vote took place on 12 December 1995, and all 185 UN member states (that was their number in 1995) unanimously supported Turkmenistan’s request to recognize its status as a permanently neutral state. On 27 December 1995, I had the honor to read out the well-known text of General Assembly resolution A/50/80 from the podium of the Khalk Maslakhaty (People’s Council) of Turkmenistan. There was genuine and unforgettable jubilation and enthusiasm among the delegates.
As an institution of international law and a special practice in interstate relations, neutrality has quite ancient historical roots. However, neutrality was for a long time a temporary, situational phenomenon in relations between states and reflected their needs in relation to specific situations. The duration of such neutrality and its scope were limited. The policy of neutrality was selective. One and the same state, having declared neutrality in relation to a state or group of states, could at the same time take a biased or even hostile position in relation to other states. Beginning with the Vienna Congress of 1815, neutrality began to acquire the features of international law when the Congress recognized the “eternal” neutrality of Switzerland in its special declaration of 20 March 1815.
The institution of neutrality developed further with the adoption of the Hague Convention on the Rights and Duties of Neutral States in October 1907, which formulated clear legal norms regulating the status of neutrality. Neutrality also became appealing to Austria for gaining sovereignty after the Anschluss by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938 and, following its defeat, the occupation by the victorious countries of World War II. On 20 October 1955, the Austrian parliament passed a constitutional law on permanent neutrality.
The acquisition by Turkmenistan of the status of permanent neutrality through the adoption by consensus of the United Nations General Assembly resolution on 12 December 1995 was an unprecedented event in modern history. Twenty years later, the international community became witness of Turkmenistan’s strong commitment to its obligations arising from the country’s permanent neutrality status. This status was once again confirmed by UN General Assembly resolution A/69/285 of 3 June 2015.
Turkmenistan actively engaged in conflict resolution in close cooperation with the UN literally from the first days as a neutral country. As part of my work at the UN Secretariat, I was directly involved for more than four years in the settlement of the inter-Tajik civil conflict. It was destructive, brutal and, like all civil wars, very difficult to resolve. In mid-1995, after four rounds of inter-Tajik negotiations under the auspices of the UN, the process reached an impasse. The government of Tajikistan and the leaders of the united Tajik opposition argued over the venue for resuming the negotiations. At that time, violations of the ceasefire agreement escalated into a virtually full-scale war.
In these difficult circumstances, the Turkmen leadership offered to hold the so-called “continuous round” of negotiations in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, as an impartial side to the Tajik parties and the UN mediator. The Turkmen partners helped the UN representatives to convince the Tajik parties to resume the negotiation process after a six-month pause, which was characterized by an escalation of hostilities, growing mistrust and suspicion. Over the next eight months, three phases of negotiations took place, with neutral Turkmenistan acting not only as a welcoming host but also as an observer to the talks among the other seven observer states.
For various reasons, some of them were more sympathetic to the Tajik government, while others – to the opposition. In this scenario, Turkmenistan maintained an impeccably neutral position towards both sides, while actively contributing to UN peacekeeping efforts. The Ashgabat round of inter-Tajik talks was a turning point in the entire peace process. Its discussions and developments soon turned into concrete agreements. The role of neutral Turkmenistan was not limited to political efforts in the negotiation process. It provided hope for the future for tens of thousands of Tajik refugees.
For decades, neutral Turkmenistan has been providing selfless humanitarian and economic assistance to neighbouring Afghanistan, without demanding recognition, glory or economic preferences in return.
Unfortunately, the Afghan and inter-Tajik conflicts were not the only ones in the Central Asian region. In September 2000, terrorists led by Jumo Namangani invaded Kyrgyzstan from Afghanistan. In 2001, a terrorist attack happened in southern Uzbekistan. These acts of terror were rebuffed, but at the same time the idea of creating a UN Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia was born. For six long years, I worked on the realization of this idea. There were many political and organizational obstacles that were gradually overcome, but the most difficult was reaching a consensus among the five Central Asian states on the location of the Center.
The issue remained in limbo for several years. It moved forward after the active involvement of President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. In his contacts with the leaders of the Central Asian states, it was decided that the UN Regional Centre would be headquartered in Ashgabat, the capital of neutral Turkmenistan. The choice of the states of the region was supported by the UN Security Council, and on 10 December 2007 the UN Regional Centre was inaugurated and began its activities, in which it relied and continues to rely on the unwavering and constructive support of the host country – neutral Turkmenistan.
Since the recognition of Turkmenistan’s status of permanent neutrality, it has consistently and persistently advocated and continues to take large-scale initiatives in the political, economic and humanitarian fields to promote a positive and non-confrontational transformation of the world. Turkmenistan’s proposals to the international community are always specific and deeply thought-out.
Let me give one example. At the initiative of honourable President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, works started in 2007 to draft and adopt a multilateral international convention regulating the reliable and safe transportation of energy resources to international markets through pipelines and other means of delivery. Already in December 2008, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 63/210 in support of this important initiative. Turkmen diplomacy did a huge and painstaking job and showed enviable patience. However, despite certain progress, the adoption of the convention was stalled. It is not clear whether it would have been able to prevent a wave of sanctions in the energy sector and the explosion of the Nord Streams, but it could undoubtedly have become an important international legal instrument regulating a strategically important area of interstate trade and economic relations.
Turkmenistan’s comprehensive initiatives such as the conceptual document “Dialogue – Guarantee of Peace” formulated by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Khalk Maslakhaty Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov that found a wide positive response in the world are also impressive and aimed at a constructive future. The ideas of the document became the conceptual basis of the UN General Assembly resolution “2025 – International Year of Peace and Trust” unanimously adopted at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. 86 states co-sponsored the resolution. The initiative of neutral Turkmenistan is the manifestation of sincere and selfless desire to invite the international community to a respectful dialogue and cooperation aimed at finding a way out of the current situation in which humanity is going down a spiral fraught with self-destruction.
Turkmenistan’s efforts are not just good intentions to “fight for all good against all bad’, but well-thought-out and concrete steps designed to contribute to the creation of a new system of global security. Turkmenistan sees the strengthening and, in fact, revival of the United Nations as the cornerstone of the renewed architecture of international security. A special place in these efforts is given to increasing respect for the norms of international law, which have been formalized over many decades as a result of sometimes complex and lengthy negotiations. Respect and adherence to them are an indispensable condition for maintaining peace and security. Ignoring them and attempting to replace them with so-called “rules” is unacceptable for the overwhelming majority of humanity.
Permanent neutrality is an element of the system of international law and attempts to replace it with surrogates also undermine the very concept of neutrality. The philosophy and political practice of neutrality have become an important factor in the conflict-free internal development of Turkmenistan and creation of an environment of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional harmony, political stability and social partnership and the consistent humanization of all aspects of the country’s social life. Turkmenistan, which is approaching the 30th anniversary of its permanent neutrality, has consistently and persistently advocated for the establishment of a more humane, just and creative world order, against any form of discrimination and isolation of states on political or ideological grounds, for respect for the identity of each country and its model of social and political development. This commands unwavering respect for neutral Turkmenistan and creates favorable conditions for its progressive development for many years to come.