Alwaght- Heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation, the Tajikistan’s president Emomali Rahmano has recently made a visit to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. The president, after meeting his Turkmen counterpart Gurbangaly Berdimuhamedow has outlined the results of the talks in a joint news conference.
Looking back into the Tajikistan-Turkmenistan ties, the two countries have been in line with each other and after Soviet Union collapse they have become independent countries. Despite the fact that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan do not share borders, in past twenty years, based on commonalities and available grounds, they have cooperated in Central Asia region. Two sides have not had major discords in any issue, as during Tajikistan's civil war period, Turkmenistan sheltered hundreds of Tajik families in its soil. Moreover, in negotiations between Tajikistan’s government and opposition groups, Turkmenistan hosted two rounds of talks between the Tajik opposing sides.
Considering the two countries’ common grounds for cooperation, the Turkmenistan and Tajikistan relations are examinable from some corners.
Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have a mutual and coordinated presence in a variety of international institutions including the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Organization for Islamic Cooperation (ICO), as development of ties between two countries has a direct impact on regional cooperation. At the time being, meetings between the two countries' presidents, signing Memorandum of Understanding and cooperation documents in different fields aim to upgrade the political ties and secure regional stability, as the two countries enjoy a common view and understanding of ISIS threat. They also have close attitude towards the regional troubles, possible Central Asia challenges and presence of extremist and terrorist groups. Tajikistan and Turkmenistan also share other views concerning ISIS emergence in the Central Asia and Afghanistan borders, peaceful diplomatic solutions for Afghanistan crisis, and helping the country to rebuild its economy. Meanwhile, being neighbors and sharing borders with Afghanistan, the two countries have extremists groups in Afghanistan close to their southern borders, which pose a major threat to their stability and security.
The two countries also are improving their political, economical, trade, and investment collaborations. In the meantime, partnership in energy and transportation sectors is of significance for Ashgabat and Dushanbe. Currently, the quality of operating Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China Gas Pipeline Project and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan Railway Project are greatly important for the two countries. Set to complete until 2017, the tripartite railway project could help Tajikistan and Turkmenistan move out of the current communicative and transit conditions and decrease dependence on Russia and Uzbekistan. Concerning gas Industry, Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China Gas Pipeline Project, regardless of diversifying Turkmenistan’s export routes and consequently leading to more revenues for the country, could help downsize Tajikistan’s gas dependence on Uzbekistan. In addition, presence of over 20000 Turkmens in Jalikoul area in Tajikistan’s Khatlan region adds highly to significance of the two countries cultural exchanges and bonds.
