The History of Afghan Turkey Relationship and its New Stage
Turkey is one of the developed countries of the world, and it is among the top twenty economies of the world. Due to its strategic value, history, and culture, this country has its own strategic depth in the region.
On the other hand, Afghanistan is located in the heart of Asia, and it has a long history, it is also called to be the centre of civilization. It is also the origin of Aryan Race, which moved to other regions. And currently Afghanistan is so valuable due to its strategic location, its neighbourhood with China, which is the second economic power of the world, and other Central Asian countries, and good relationship with other countries.
Both the countries had great relationship with each other; but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s trip, after the inauguration of new Afghan Government, to Kabul, carried out the relationship to two countries into a new stage.
Historical of Afghan-Turk Relationship
Afghanistan had historical relationship with Turkey; Turkish Tribe has gone to Turkey from Aryana (the banks of the Oxus-Amu River), they stayed there and built the Turkey today. If we go to the depth of Ottoman Empire, we will find that the founder of the empire, Fundamentalist Ottoman, has also gone to Turkey from the Central Asia, and originated Ottoman Empire there.
The first king of Ghaznavid era, which was based in Ghazni Province of Afghanistan, Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi’s father was Turk, and also another famous Afghan personality Maulana Jalal Uddin Balkhi, who was born in Balkh, has gone to the capital of currently Turkey (that time known as Rome) Istanbul, and he was enlightened with both last names (Rumi and Balkhi). Said Jamaluddin Afghan also attempted to save the caliphate of the Second Caliph Abdul Hamid, and once asked for the permission to arise waves in Central Asia for his support. Similarly, some other Afghan elites like Mahmood Tarzi has also spent time in Ottoman Empire and was influenced there.
For clarification of the cultural relationship of the two countries, only memories of Maulana Rumi is also enough; but collectively both the countries had deep relationship with each other during the course of history. From Shah Ashraf to Ahmad Shah Abdali, and then to Amir Sher Ali Khan, Afghanistan and Turkey had good relationship with each other.
History of the modern relationships
In the modern history, Turkey sent its military commanders to Afghanistan for training Afghan Army; and Turkey, after the Soviet Union, was the second country to recognise the independence of Afghanistan, and Afghanistan was also the second country to accept the country of Ata Turk as an independent country. King Amanullah Khan was the first Afghan Leader to visit Turkey, at that time the first embassy of Afghanistan was opened in Turkey. The Turkish Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz pointed to the idea of opposition in the parliament, and said: “Afghanistan was one of the first few countries that recognized the independence of Turkey, and it was the first country to open its diplomatic representation here. During Ata Turk, we had a defence alliance with it, therefore Turkey will cooperate Afghanistan in its harshest times, and our existence in Afghanistan is not related to the existence of NATO in Afghanistan.”
Therefore, Erdogan, in his trip to Islamabad in 2012, said: “Turkey will stay in Afghanistan even after the exit of other foreign forces. We will be there in Afghanistan till Afghans thank us, and let us exit from Afghanistan.”
While Ottoman Empire faced with the Arabian rebellion; the Afghan Newspaper Saraj ul Akhbar, under the control of Mahmood Tarzi, was publicizing for the support of Ottoman Empire. But Afghans did not end their support only by that, and stood next to Turks in their historical war.
At the beginning of Afghan Jihad, Turkey supported Afghanistan, and later on, Turkey and China stated themselves as neutral, as the result of which there were hopes in Afghanistan related to these countries.
Since 2001 to 2014
Turkey sent its armed forces to Afghanistan in the frame of NATO, but from the beginning they declared that their forces will not participate in military operations. At the beginning Turkey sent approximately 300 soldiers to Afghanistan, which is now approximately 1000; but till now even a single Afghan is not killed by Turkish forces.
Up to date, Turkey trained approximately 12500 Afghan armed forces in Afghanistan, and approximately 3300 more in Turkey, and up to the upcoming one decade it will train approximately 15000 more Afghan Armed Forces.
There was an agreement signed, on March 1st, 2011, between Afghanistan, Turkey, Japan, and NATO, according to which Afghan Armed Forces would be trained in one of the military academy of Turkey. Based on the agreement, firstly there were 500 Afghans sent to Turkey in July of 2011, and after the completion of the training they came back to the country in February of 2012, and the same process is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, based on the annual statistics of Afghanistan, up to 2012 both the countries collectively had approximately 290 million U.S. Dollars commerce with each other. According to a report, up to 2010, Turkish Construction Companies have gained up to 3 billion dollars projects in the country. Similarly Turkish Government itself also implemented tens of projects in Afghanistan with the worth of approximately 400 million dollars.
The most significant role that Turkey played in last decade, during Karzai’s government, was the trilateral conferences between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. Those trilateral conferences started in 2007, which Afghanistan started claiming Pakistan that it was providing shelters for Afghan Taliban, and then they were attacking on Afghanistan. Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, up to 2012, had seven trilateral conferences, (in 2007, 2008, 2009, twice in 2010, once in 2011, and once in 2012).
Though those conferences did not resolve the disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but to some extent, they decreased those disputes. For example, in the conference of 2009 the military and intelligence heads of both the countries met with each other. In the conference in December of 2010 all the three countries agreed that they will perform shared military exercises, which were implemented in Turkey in 2011.
In November of 2011, Turkey started the program of Asia about Afghanistan, or (Istanbul for Afghanistan). All the Afghan neighbours participate in those conferences, which its aim is peace and stability of Afghanistan. In those conferences, presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, the vice president of Iran, representative of Chinese President, the Chinese Defence Minister, and some other officials participate.
It is remarkable that the upcoming conference of this series, which will be held on October 20, 2014, will be held in China. There are rumours that the upcoming conference will be very beneficial for the future of Afghanistan. Afghanistan has its preparation for the conference, and Pakistan also pay a special attention to the conference. For the mentioned reason, Pakistani senator, who is also the head of Pakistan-China Institute, created a two days conference under the title of China-Pakistan-Afghanistan on October 19th and 20th of the current year.
The Future of Afghan-Turk Relationship
Up to the largest extent the relationship of Afghanistan and Turkey are based on culture. Even while Turkish analysts speak of the relationship, they start with the topic that both the countries are so close to each other based on their culture, and Turkey has a historical responsibility to cooperate Afghanistan in its harsh time. According to him, in addition to that the existence of Uzbeks and Turkmens in Afghanistan is another reason for strengthening the relationships.
According to analysts, Turkey will try in the future to strengthen the cultural and economic relationship of the two countries in the future, therefore Turkey want to build a university in Afghanistan by the name of Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi.
Though Turkey is involved in the issues of the Middle East and most of its attention is toward those issues, still it is clear from its diplomatic attempts that it can play an important role in the peace, security, and stability of Afghanistan.
From the attempts of Turkey it seems that Turkey express its concerns about the peace and stability of Afghanistan and count it valuable; because, the peace and stability of Afghanistan will not only bring peace and stability in the region, but will also influence the peace and stability of Turkey as well, and collectively it will bring new economic advantages for the region, especially for Turkey.