Gulay Kilic: Firstly, what does CICA mean? Could you please explain the general structure, functions and members of the CICA?

Kamer Kasim: The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multinational forum that enhances confidence building measures, security and stability towards the region (Asia). CICA is an organization formed by the initiative of Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's initiatives emerged in 1992 at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. It was established to promote the idea of peace and confidence, to dominate and to guarantee peace and confidence in the relationships between countries in Asia. In fact, in a sense, CICA was established to create a forum for bringing together dissimilar countries. It has twenty members including countries that have different political structures. For example, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Iran, United Arab Emirates, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are the members of CICA. As well as Turkey, the regional powers, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, are members of CICA. When we look at the list of Member states it can be seen that countries with different structures are included in the forum. Moreover, it can be seen that countries that are politically problematic and generally do not come together in the international platforms come side by side in this forum, like Israel and Iran, Pakistan and India. Of course, this also raises a question: What is the intended goal for such an organization and how would it create a platform among dissimilar countries? Since the first days of CICA, it has offered a platform to provide confidence building measures for member states. Although this platform emphasizes confidence-building measures, political issues have not been on the agenda. As the structure includes many different countries, political issues on the agenda may fracture the organization. However, many of the Asian organizations have the same risk.

G.K: Turkey will take over the CICA presidency in June 2010 from Kazakhstan. In this concept, how do you evaluate the relations between Turkey and Kazakhstan?

K.K: Kazakhstan is a country that has very good relations with Turkey among the Turkic Republics. Turkey gives great importance to Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is an important country for Turkey in terms of its geographic position and natural resources. Turkey's support of Kazakhstan for the OSCE chairmanship and Kazakhstanís support of Turkey for the CICA chairmanship are indicative of the good relationship between the two states. Kazakh President Nazarbayev demonstrated vision by setting up the CICA and being a candidate for the OSCE chairmanship. Of course it is not enough to aspire to the OSCE chairmanship; being awarded the chairmanship is a great success for Kazakhstan. Turkey is also pleased by Kazakhstanís OSCE chairmanship. I think Turkey and Kazakhstan will continue their cooperation both on the OSCE and CICA platforms.

G.K: How could it be possible to become successful at a platform that has such a large spectrum of member states? In this manner, can CICA manage to fulfill its mission properly?

K.K: The important point here, contrary to the OSCE, is that it includes words like ìconfidence building measuresî instead of ìsecurity.î We are witnessing that CICA makes an effort to establish some structures that will allow states to trust each other, instead of having mechanisms directly related to security. At this point, having several and different countries poses no problem, but this does not necessarily mean that the security issue is not going to be touched upon in accordance with CICA. With the presidency of Turkey, I believe that CICA will become a platform where political issues, as seen in some organizations in Asia, can be discussed and various views can be raised.

G.K: When we look at the period after 9/11, which task can CICA undertake in Asia?

K.K: Actually, the security issues were topics that were not really discussed in Asia before September 11. With the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Asian geography immediately came to the forefront regarding the security dimension. Of course, together with this, the developments in Afghanistan also drew attention to this geography. Thus, we could not exactly expect stability in Afghanistan in the foreseeable future. That means there will always be some problems. This indicates to us that a structure like CICA is needed in the region. Could it be possible for CICA to intervene in the fundamental problems (e.g. the Israel-Palestine problem)? Here, there is both Israel and Palestine as members. CICA may become a platform where these disputing parties can come together and discuss some issues. However, we see that CICA has abstained from discussing political issues. Also we see that CICA has been hesitant about giving opinions or intervening directly in political issues.

G.K: What will Turkey bring when it takes over the CICA presidency in June 2010? What kind of preparations is Turkey making for the presidency? What can be anticipated for the CICA presidency of Turkey?

K.K: First of all, the activities that CICA plans to carry out during the presidency of Turkey will raise Turkeyís visibility both for the member states of CICA and also for other countries. The initiatives that Turkey has made recently in different regions can be improved and pursued actively during its CICA presidency. If you look at the profiles of these countries, it is a structure that includes India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel. And Turkey is a country that is interested in the problems of the region. In June 2010 Turkey will take on the presidency of CICA, an important organization, and it will hold the presidency for two years. Turkey has made preparations for the presidency while establishing a task force. If Turkey uses the opportunity of being CICAís president and makes CICA more effective, I am of the belief that this will both raise Turkey and Turkish foreign policyís visibility and will also trigger an upsurge of interest in Turkey. Of course, this situation is highly related to the actions of Turkey during its presidency. If Turkey can make some attempts on the confidence building measures and can make CICA politically effective, it will be a very important step for Turkeyís image that will be formed both by its situation in the member countries and by the solution of the problems. On this issue, CICA has some mechanisms in place. For instance, CICA has published a document titled the ìCatalogue for Confidence Building Measures.î This is one of the most important documents of CICA. However, this has not been a pressing issue on the agenda. On the issue of confidence building measures, Turkey can make the organization more functional. It is said that this has some risks. For example, countries like Russia or China are members of CICA, but they are also members of other organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Of course, perhaps these countries or organizations do not want to perceive CICA as a rival. However, I think that Turkey is going to overcome this with proper diplomacy. With different perspectives on the confidence building measures, CICA can be a platform where member statesí views can be brought together. CICA may become more functional if it is directed towards some other specific issues. For instance, it may give importance only to the confidence building measures rather than various issues. In this way, CICA should try to build a security culture in Asia, although it is not a process that will be completed during the presidency of Turkey. Turkey will begin an important initiative not only in terms of the member countries of CICA but also in terms of the countries neighboring CICA members.

If Turkey could make CICA an effective organization that is responsible for the security of Asia, Turkey will improve the establishment of a security culture in CICAís region. The process that could be taken as an example would be European integration, which was carried out after the Second World War. I think that Asia also needs such a kind of formation. Besides, it is known that the countries that compose the European Union had fundamental problems in the past. There are also substantial problems between the countries in Asia. However, it is possible to establish mechanisms to prevent a crisis in Asia. Especially when we look at the events after September 11, security issues began to be discussed in Asia. If Turkey had handled such a mission before September 11, it would not be so effective. But now, Turkey will not face much opposition by other countries if it promotes security issues during its CICA presidency.

G.K: Is it possible to have as much prestige while being the president of CICA as with the OIC? Do you think that the SCO and CICA may become competitive organizations in Asia?

K.K: Turkey always desires to play an active role in its nearby regions because it does not want any problems in its surrounding regions and perceives the security of other countries as important. If you have any security problems in your region, then you are also not secure. In this manner, can CICA become a platform? Yes. It can become a platform for solving the problems if the appropriate materials are used. For example, the OIC is an important organization but it is only concerned with the Islamic region. Besides the OIC member states, CICA is composed of other countries like India and Israel. CICA may help Turkey to spread its mission in the OIC beyond the OIC member states, but in order to be able to do that, Turkey should emphasize the political issues without hesitation. Until now, CICA has abstained from discussing political issues.

The SCO is a sensitive issue. Russia and China are the two active directing countries. At the same time, these countries are members of CICA. Thus, the SCO and CICA do not want to have any problems with each other. Even if the SCO considers CICA as a rival in some ways, CICA encompasses a greater area than does the SCO. Thus, the visions of these two organizations could not be the same. CICA needs to touch upon the political issues and should create a security culture. Turkey has to play an active role while bringing other countries together on the issues of establishing a security culture and discussing political problems. If Turkey hesitates to do that it cannot move CICA beyond the point of the Kazak presidency. Since the foundation of CICA, Kazakhstan has carried out important initiatives and completed a substantial task for cooperation in Asia. The one thing Turkey must do during its presidency is to make CICA visible and dominant in the international arena in order to establish a security culture in Asia and to transform CICA from its existing position.

Kamer Kasim is expert at USAK Eurasian Studies Center and lecturer at Abant Izzet Baysal University