Turkmenistan, 1997

Allow me to congratulate Mr. Udovenko,

the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on his election

to the post of President of the General Assembly. His

election signifies recognition of Ukraine s great prestige in

the world, respect for and confidence in the country s

foreign policy, and the personal and professional qualities

of the new President.

We are sincerely grateful to Ambassador Razali Ismail

for his remarkable diplomatic talent and efficient

performance of the President s functions during the

previous session of the General Assembly.

First of all, allow me to express our satisfaction with

the report presented by the Secretary-General. It is an

innovative and specific document devoid of many of the

weaknesses typical of similar documents in the past.

Turkmenistan supports the Secretary-General s programme

to reform the entire United Nations system and the

functioning of its bodies — in particular the Secretariat —

and to tailor the financial resources of the Organization to

its planned activities.

We share the conclusion in the report that the reform

of the United Nations should be radical and not gradual.

However, we believe that the reforms should not be carried

out as a revolutionary overhaul, especially when it comes,

for example, to the Security Council, which after it

becomes more representative should still remain an

effectively functioning body that should not supplant the

General Assembly.

In our view, a rational increase in the number of

permanent members of the Security Council primarily

calls for the inclusion of such States as Japan and

Germany — vested with all corresponding rights and

powers — because they can make a constructive input

and have greater political objectiveness with respect to the

work of the Security Council.

There is an issue of special interest and concern for

Turkmenistan, as well as for all the countries of the

region: the question of Afghanistan. We are glad to note

that this question finds an increasingly prominent place in

the agenda of the United Nations and in the activities of

its agencies, ad hoc bodies and the Security Council. We

feel special gratitude for the Secretary-General for his

continuing efforts to give a new impetus to the intra-

Afghan settlement. In this context, we attach particular

significance to the efforts of the Secretary-General s

special envoys Mr. Norbert Hall and Mr. Lakhdar

Brahimi. Turkmenistan was involved in the

implementation of peacemaking programmes in the region

by hosting a series of inter-Tajik talks and by organizing,

together with the United Nations, a major international

conference on humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Turkmenistan resolutely supports and will support to the

utmost the earliest possible convening of an international

conference on Afghanistan with the participation of all its

immediate neighbours and, in the future, the holding of

conference with the participation of the Powers vested

with special international authority and capable of making

a practical contribution towards the settlement. The

President of Turkmenistan, Mr. Saparmurat Niyazov,

maintains constant contact regarding this matter with Mr.

Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General, and with the leaders

of the neighbouring States of Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan

and Tajikistan. Turkmenistan pins great hopes on the

forthcoming summit meeting of the Organization of the

Islamic Conference (OIC), to be held in Tehran in

December this year, which will give the Muslim world an

opportunity to determine at the highest level the

guidelines for the resolution of the prolonged Afghan

crisis, which has today become a bleeding wound for the

Afghan people and an obstacle preventing the region from

implementing major economic programmes. Turkmenistan

has always believed, and still believes, that conflict

situations emerging in the OIC s geographical area

should be resolved through its joint efforts with the

United Nations.

We are happy to be witnessing today a greater

display of restraint with regard to simplistic attempts

aimed at associating extremism and other negative

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phenomena with the world of Islam. The Muslim world like

any other — for example, Christianity — is multifaceted

and diverse. It confronts a whole complex of universal

problems of development, and it is being mobilized to

overcome conflicts and combat manifestations of uncivil

social behaviour. The need for this was emphasized by the

Secretary- General in his report to the current session of the

General Assembly. While it is a secular and democratic

State in Asia, Turkmenistan also considers itself a

traditional oriental society that, by virtue of its geopolitical

destiny, finds itself at the juncture of two regions, involving

it simultaneously in Asian and European international

affairs. Against the backdrop of the global energy potential

of our State, this factor forms the basis of the United

Nations-supported strategy of Turkmenistan s neutrality,

which today acquires practical significance for the

Organization.

All our political efforts today are aimed at creating a

favourable atmosphere for economic development, both of

the entire region and of every country in particular. At its

summit meeting held last May in Ashgabat, the regional

Economic Cooperation Organization, which today

comprises 10 nations, formulated a strategic programme for

the development of transport, energy, pipeline and

telecommunication infrastructures. Its implementation not

only corresponds to the interests of the participating States

but also creates opportunities for the delivery of energy

carriers, oil, gas and oil products to international markets in

Europe and Asia from the enormously rich deposits in the

Caspian Sea basin and the entire Central Asian area.

Turkmenistan believes that, in the intensification of

international cooperation, the resolution of crises in Central

Asia and the use of preventive measures aimed at

precluding their recurrence because of conflicting claims of

States to ownership rights over natural resources, it is

necessary to take into account the global challenges of the

twenty-first century, which call for the early development

of additional and alternative means for the rational

distribution of energy-producing raw materials on world

markets. Turkmenistan possesses the world s third largest

gas deposits, and it has huge oil reserves and other mineral

resources. It is ready to take part in open and broad-based

international cooperation in this endeavour. This approach

has been confirmed by the recently issued international

tender for the development and exploration of oil and gas

deposits in the Turkmen zone of the Caspian Sea. We

cannot but express our satisfaction at the lifting of artificial

barriers to the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Iran

to Turkey and Europe. We consider this a good sign from

the United States, a sign that it is ready to support our

efforts to strengthen our sovereignty and independent

national economy.

In this context, allow me also to express our

satisfaction at the fact that the Secretary-General s report

and other recent documents of the Organization have at

last more clearly defined the notion of Central Asia,

which includes many more States as compared with the

old central Asian part of the former Soviet Union. During

the past several years Turkmenistan has maintained a

consistent and principled approach to this issue,

emphasizing that the disappearance of the southern

borders of the former Soviet State gave rise to the

formation of a new region unified by the common

purpose of accelerating economic development and

strengthening its political and State structures. Today it is

inconceivable that Turkmenistan should exist without

equally close ties within this region — with Iran, Turkey,

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan

and other neighbours. We are firmly convinced that the

former Soviet “Central Asian 5” have quite logically been

transformed into the “Central Asian 10” and that the

United Nations and its different agencies should bear in

mind this objective reality when formulating their

approaches to the region.

I believe it is highly important to draw the

Assembly s attention to Turkmenistan s sincere

commitment to the efforts of the international community

to bring about the complete banning of the production and

proliferation of all types of weapons of mass destruction.

Turkmenistan fully subscribes to the Ottawa process for

the elimination of anti-personnel landmines. In 1996 and

1997, together with Canada, Turkmenistan actively

participated in international forums in Vienna, Bonn,

Oslo, Brussels and Ashgabat, which have been major

milestones on the road towards the signing of the treaty

banning anti-personnel landmines, which is to be signed

in December this year in Ottawa. Coming from a region

that has suffered the horrors of this so-called

indiscriminate type of weapon, Turkmenistan is convinced

that it is a timely and highly relevant treaty.

At the end of the twentieth century international

relations are characterized by one specific feature: the

right of choice that is enjoyed today by an

unprecedentedly large number of independent nations and

States. This right is becoming an increasingly stable trend

strengthened by greater tolerance and patience in

international relations. Participation or non-participation

in one or another political or economic grouping is no

longer considered, nor can it be considered, through the

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prism of the formula “If you are not with us, you are

against us”. Turkmenistan does not object to the idea of the

existence of the great Powers regional interests. This is

the right of every State. However, we, like our partners in

the Non-Aligned Movement, unequivocally object to the

existence of zones of unilateral domination. We stand for

the principle of open land as well as that of open skies.

While building its relations with all States on the basis of

the principles of equality and mutual respect, neutral

Turkmenistan does not divide its partners into categories of

close or remote, big or small, because that runs counter to

the political logic of our times.

Today, during my meeting with Mr. Kofi Annan, the

Secretary- General of the United Nations, I delivered to him

a personal message from the President of Turkmenistan,

Mr. Saparmurat Niyazov which, in particular, states, first,

that our political philosophy and all our actions are free of

any self-serving interests and are primarily aimed at

strengthening peace and raising the economic well-being

and cultural and educational level of its peoples; secondly,

that the United Nations can be fully convinced that

Turkmenistan is prepared to give the Organization its

maximum possible assistance; and, finally, that the United

Nations can count on Turkmenistan in all its initiatives and

endeavours in the region.