ANKARA

A think-tank based in the Turkish capital Ankara recently hosted an international conference to evaluate ways to strengthen regional stability, prosperity and cooperation.

Titled “Searching for Integration in The Shadow of The Global Power Struggle & The Turkish World” it was held by the Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy Studies. Some 42 prominent experts from 16 countries contributed to the program with their speeches on Nov. 6.

Former US envoy and Atlantic Council senior researcher Matt Bryza said it was not until the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. that Central Asia became a part of the US agenda and gained more importance with its resources and potential.

The cultures and histories of the countries in Asia should be respected, and this is valid in terms of democratization processes, he added.

Noting that then-US President Donald Trump's attempts to keep ties with Turkey on a positive course were weakened by the US Congress, Bryza said current President Joe Biden wants to be more productive with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkic world, and the G20 summit was a positive development and the “best meeting ever” in Turkish-US relations.

He underlined that the US strives to maintain positive relations with all Turkic-speaking states in the East, including Turkey, as part of its foreign policy.

For his part, Oleksandr Bogomolov, director of the National Institute of Strategic Studies of Ukraine, said Ukraine and Turkey have naturally been partners for geopolitical and economic reasons since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Rich Outzen, a former US Army colonel, said it is important to conduct regional, economic and political cooperation not under or through hegemonies but through organizations, funding and investment resources.

Advising the West to support each other in the same way, Outzen highlighted the importance of multilateralism and said the US should be on a common diplomatic platform with the members of the Turkic Council and the West.