Turkish role in recent Kazakhstan protests

Turkey played a notable role in the recent Kazakhstan crisis and contributed to fueling protests, violence and chaos, which confirms that Ankara has not yet abandoned its traditional policy of interfering in conflicts and crises and trying to invest it in its own interests.

The rapid and decisive Russian intervention in the Kazakhstan crisis cut the way for Ankara to interfere in Kazakh affairs and to have cards that could be bargained by Russia or the United States alike.

At the beginning of the crisis, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to communicate with all parties, as he made a phone call to his Kazakh counterpart, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, on January 6, 2022, during which he expressed his hope of forming a new government and ending the tension that occurred against the backdrop of demonstrations in the western regions of the country as a result of the sharp rise in gas prices, taking advantage of the two countries’ membership in the Organization of Turkic States. He also communicated with the leaders of the organization’s member states to emphasize that the stability and security of Kazakhstan is of great importance to the entire region, especially the neighboring countries.

Press reports also said that Dimitri Dikiy, the most prominent mafia leader in Kazakhstan, who was involved in inciting the recent demonstrations in Kazakhstan, made a visit to Ankara just prior to the events. He also met Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, which points to the Turkish role in igniting the crisis and provoking unrest that the country witnessed. The biggest evidence of this is the President Tokayev’s announcement that foreign hands, rioters and terrorist groups were involved in sabotaging the country’s government institutions. Dikiy was arrested immediately after his return from Turkey.

The authorities in Kazakhstan also confirmed that the rioters had combat experience, leading accusations to be directed towards Turkey, which has a long history of training militias and cooperating with various terrorist organizations.

The media affiliated with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) described the events in Kazakhstan as the Turkish Spring, confirming Ankara’s sympathy and support for the demonstrators, which strained relations between the two countries, because the current Kazakh president prioritizes the consolidation of his relations with Moscow, which is something Ankara sees as reducing its influence in the Central Asian region.

Turkey tried to exploit the violence and riots by declaring its readiness to send forces to support stability in Kazakhstan, which greatly contributed to igniting more chaos. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that Kazakhstan is an important ally of his country and that Ankara hopes as soon as possible to stabilize the situation and ensure law and order in the country, adding that if Kazakhstan made any request to Ankara, it would be fully honored.

But Kazakhstan ignored the Turkish offer, and instead, President Tokayev asked for support and intervention from the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes Russia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Moscow from the first moment sent its forces there and played a role in the restoration of the main Almaty airport, which was taken over by the protesters.

Kazakhstan is important to Turkey due to the existence of close relations between the two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations between them in 1992, as Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Ankara has strong economic relations with Kazakhstan. In 2009, the two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement that made Turkey one of Kazakhstan's most important economic partners in the region.

In 2019, the two countries also signed 19 agreements in various fields during the eleventh meeting of the joint economic committee between the Turkish and Kazakh governments, with which Ankara aimed to raise the trade exchange between the two countries to $10 billion annually. There are also more than 500 projects with Turkish-Kazakh capital in Kazakhstan, as well as 160 projects with Turkish capital.