The two-day visit to Georgia of the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, has turned out to be a surprise to local experts, and not only because he had not announced it. A high level visit draws attention, it is not even an official or a state visit. This is the first visit of the head of Turkmenistan to Georgia and it was expected that the result could be kind of a sensational declaration on the transit of Turkmen gas via the South Caucasus corridor.
In major policy, sensations are rare. However, if you carefully read the final declaration of the two presidents, as well as listen to the diplomatic phrase, spoken at a joint press conference given by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili, the main message becomes clear: Ashgabat is exploring the possibility of transporting its main wealth, natural gas, for the Eurasian Energy corridor. The predecessor of the current Turkmen leader, Sapparmurat Niyazov, often spoke about it with the longstanding head of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze, at their meetings in Ashgabat, where the Georgian leader had asked him to write off at least part of the multimillion-dollar debt for gas consumed.
Since then, much time has passed. The era of Turkmen gas supplied by the Russian company 'Itera' is over for Georgia, the country is covering its needs in the blue fuel almost 100% due to deliveries of natural gas from Azerbaijan on a very favorable contract, so the issue of natural gas during the visit of President Berdymukhamedov was exhausted by the transit issue.
One can only assume that the parties are affected by the prospect of a trans-Caspian pipeline building. For the moment, this issue is closely tied to the issue of determining the status of the Caspian Sea and concerns the Turkmen-Azerbaijani agenda. However, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov noted that Turkmenistan stands for "the development of transit capacity, the association of the Caspian and Black Sea regions, as well as for transit of natural resources to the European market."
The formula is quite clear, although about the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline not a word was said. Giorgi Margvelashvili, in the tone of his guest, said that transit projects, "deserve special attention" in view of their "European orientation."
Perhaps in the course of the negotiations behind closed doors with Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, who, unlike the president, has the real power in the country, the topic of a "large gas pipeline" was addressed more substantively, but it is remarkable that they did not want to articulate this issue publicly, bearing in mind Moscow’s close "attention" to the project.
But in a joint declaration by the Presidents, the Georgians and the Turkmens were called "brotherly peoples" for the first time, emphasizing the strategic importance of further development of Georgian-Turkmen relations, jointly declaring determination to fight for the strengthening of the UN and reform of its Security Council.
Georgia promised to support all documents initiated by Ashgabat to enhance transit corridors, while Turkmenistan pledged to vote for all the proposals of Georgia on the return of refugees to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. By the way, Berdimuhamedov laid a wreath at the memorial to warriors who died for the territorial integrity of Georgia. Many in Tbilisi took this event as a landmark: the Georgian side often makes a visit to the memorial during the program of visits of distinguished guests, but not all of them agree to adopt the program in this way, not wanting to fix their position on the matter. For example, a memorable incident occurred in 2006, when the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said that on his part it would be unethical to place flowers at a memorial to "one of the parties of the conflict."
According to Vestnik Kavkaza, during the visit of the Turkmen president, attention was also focused on the fight against terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking and the consolidation of international efforts in this direction. According to the final declaration, Turkmenistan and Georgia "intend to deepen cooperation within the OSCE to respond to the challenges of European security," considering the cornerstone of the resolution of any conflict, "the principle of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states."
Summing up the unexpected visit of the Turkmen leader, political scientists have come to the conclusion that the Turkmen president is unlikely to have gone to Georgia for the sake of a symbolic gesture. In any case, this gesture by the leader of a country which is rich in energy resources, in the language of a diplomatic character means that the Turkmen leadership "bears in mind" the prospect of the trans-Caspian pipeline, but the actual implementation of the project is postponed for the future and Berdimuhamedov will lead the present negotiations on this not in Tbilisi, but in Baku, where he recently attended the opening of the first European Games.
