Is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization an alternative to the European Union for Turkey?
In order to seek an answer to this question, we must first understand the structure and formation of the SCO. The SCO, whose main subject of cooperation is security, was first established in 1996 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan under the name “Shanghai Five”. After Uzbekistan joined in 2001, it changed its name to Shanghai Cooperation Organization. In addition to the Council of Heads of State and the Council of Heads of Government, which meet regularly in the international structure of the organization, there are structures such as the secretariat, the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure, and the Council of Foreign Ministers. The secretariat of the organization is located in Beijing, the capital of China, and the “Regional Anti-Terrorism Organization” is located in the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. Today, the organization has 6 members, 6 observers and 6 “dialogue partners”. Observers; Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan. Pakistan, which applied for membership in 2006, and India, which applied for membership in 2014, are expected to become members of the SCO in 2017. The dialogue partners of the organization are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Six SCO member countries make up about a quarter of the world’s population. Add to this the observers and dialogue partners, the SCO includes about half of the world’s population.
During the periods when Turkey has problems with the EU and the USA, the authorities make statements regarding the possibility of establishing the Eurasian Union with Russia or becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Nowadays, the problems arising in the process with the EU caused Turkey to evaluate the idea of becoming a member of the SCO. So, can the SCO really be an alternative to the EU?
Looking at the geography and population of the member countries, it can be seen that the SCO is a large organization. When we look at the purpose of the SCO, it is possible to say that it is to increase friendship and multi-faceted cooperation among member countries, to ensure security and stability in the region, to counter terrorism and separatist movements together, to take a role in the solution of international problems, and to develop relations in the fields of economy and culture. There are always evaluations that the SCO was established to prevent the spread of the USA in Central Asia and to end its presence in this region. Another of the most important goals of the organization is to prevent Islamist organizations and drug trade in Central Asia. For this reason, member states share intelligence with each other, conduct military exercises, and extradite criminals to each other.
It is out of the question for Russia and China to want Turkey, which is a NATO member, in this structure they created to drive third states out of the region. Because, besides establishing multi-faceted cooperation between the countries of the region, the SCO also participates in military exercises. The closure of the US military bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan after the establishment of the SCO shows that Russia and China have achieved their original and unofficial goals. In addition, thanks to the help of the SCO, Russia is returning to Central Asia both militarily and politically and is developing its economic relations with the regional states in China.
Although Russia-Turkey relations have developed rapidly, Russia will not want to see Turkey in the geography of Central Asia, where the two countries will compete. Even a small step of Turkey in this region will be seen by Moscow as a Pan-Turkist policy. For this reason, Russian officials say that for Turkey to enter the SCO, Ankara must leave NATO. Here, the striking point is the difference in the two countries’ perspectives towards the SCO. Russia compares the SCO with NATO, while Ankara sees it as an alternative to the EU.
Most of the SCO member countries and observer countries-Russia, Uzbekistan, China, Tajikistan, Iran, Belarus, Armenia- are seen as anti-democratic by the West and interaction with these countries is minimized both politically and economically. Although Turkey wants to have economic and political relations with SCO members, it should not break away from the West either. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization cannot go further than presenting opinions about the problems in the geography of its member countries and cannot produce active solutions in the region. At the same time, not responding to the developments in the international arena reduced the organization’s ability to be taken seriously by the USA and the EU. As a result, the SCO, which has begun to lose its influence and has a great structural difference with the EU, cannot be an alternative to the EU. Turkey can only be an alternative to the EU through bilateral agreements with the countries in the region or under the leadership of Russia, the Eurasian Economic Union consisting of Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, which includes the free movement of both capital and products.
