Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Summit
25 January 2010

Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan: Trilateral Summit on the way towards institutionalisation

 

 

On its way towards becoming an institution, the fourth Trilateral Summit between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan hosted by President Gül was held at the Çırağan Palace.

During the press conference, President Gül informed the press members that they had had warm and satisfactory talks and that they had reviewed the opportunities of trilateral collaboration to establish the peace, stability and security of the peoples of their regions, adding that they had made definite moves towards this aim.

 

 

President Gül recalled that, during the previous summits, they had decided to create a framework in which chiefs of staff and the heads of intelligence services could work in cooperation, and he announced that in this meeting, they had formed a basis for doing this.

Education, continued the President, is a crucial factor in all countries and he announced that the Education Ministers of all three countries had agreed on certain projects to be carried out both bilaterally and trilaterally, and these had been approved.

Drawing attention to the importance of developing economic cooperation between the three countries, President Gül also briefed his audience that the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey had chaired the meeting between the chambers of the three countries in Istanbul Forum and he predicted that these talks would prove to be beneficial to all.

As for the bilateral talks between Turkey and Pakistan, President Gül said that after following the briefing of the Ministry of Communications on the necessity for improving the railway between the two countries, he had given instructions for the railway to come into service.

“We are taking the initiative to resolve the problems of the region”

President Gül ended his speech with the following words: “The historic cordial relations between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan spur us on to work together increasingly. We are taking the initiative and are making great efforts to solve the problems of the region.”

Held for the first time in 2007, the Turkey-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Summit is evolving towards becoming an institution.

Winning hearts of the Afghan people

Military means, declared the President, are not enough to overcome the problems in Afghanistan and he suggested in addition that the hearts of the Afghan people should be won in order to produce beneficial results. On the one hand, continued President Gül, the Afghan security forces should be encouraged, but on the other hand, the Afghan people ought to be treated well and protected, adding that the Afghan administration knew who were not involved in terrorist activities and who should be won over.

President Gül further stressed that isolating those involved in terror and keeping them in small groups were important strategies in fighting terror and he guaranteed that Turkey would do whatever was necessary when the need arose.

President Gül also recalled that Turkey had made great efforts and accomplished much to make all the groups in Iraq participate in the political process, and he promised that Turkey would lend her constructive contribution to Afghanistan as well.

President Gül also predicted that this summit would provide a contribution to the meeting to be held in London, adding, however, that Turkey was not a mediator between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but was displaying her brotherly spirit at the highest level.