Eight decades ago, the United Nations was created to maintain international peace and security as a basic condition for solving all the problems of humanity. The Organization achieves this by preventing conflicts and assisting the parties in reconciliation, carrying out peacekeeping activities, and creating conditions conducive to the establishment and strengthening of peace.
One of the most effective strategies for preventing disputes from escalating into conflicts, their escalation, and their re-emergence is preventive diplomacy. It involves taking diplomatic measures to prevent conflicts and limit their spread. Preventive diplomacy also includes actions by the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General, as well as other interested parties, to prevent the use of violence at critical moments. The most common action within the framework of preventive diplomacy is the work of diplomatic envoys sent to crisis areas to promote dialogue, compromise, and peaceful defusing of tensions.
The concept of “preventive diplomacy” has become widely used in world practice since the publication of the report of UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, which he delivered at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly on July 17, 1992. This document was entitled “An Agenda for Peace” and contained the conceptual foundations of preventive diplomacy and peacekeeping. Boutros Boutros-Ghali gave a clear definition of the concept of “preventive diplomacy” as an action “aimed at preventing the emergence of disputes between parties, preventing existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and limiting the scale of conflicts after they have occurred”.
He paid special attention to international operations and processes related to preventive diplomacy. This is, firstly, peacekeeping – “an action aimed at persuading warring parties to agreements, primarily through peaceful means, as provided for in Chapter VI of the Charter of the United Nations”. Secondly, peacekeeping, interpreted as the need for the UN presence in the conflict area, which was previously carried out with the consent of all interested parties and, as a rule, was associated with the deployment of military, police, and often civilian UN personnel.
Thirdly, peace-building in the post-conflict period is “a concept of actions to identify and support structures that will be inclined to contribute to the strengthening and consolidation of peace in order to prevent the recurrence of conflict”. Thus, preventive diplomacy covers ways to prevent disputes and resolve them before they escalate into conflicts, as well as limiting conflicts that have already arisen through mediation, reconciliation and negotiations.
One of the UN outposts in the implementation of the preventive diplomacy strategy with a specific mandate to strengthen the capacity of states and regional actors to eliminate potential sources of tension by peaceful means is the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA). It was established in 2007 to assist the governments of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in building capacity for peaceful resolution of disputes and conflict prevention through dialogue and international support. The country’s neutral status played a decisive role in locating its headquarters in Ashgabat, since the most important function of Turkmenistan’s neutrality is related to the resolution of disputes exclusively by peaceful and diplomatic means.
Speaking at the International Conference “Neutrality and Preventive Diplomacy: Foundations of Peace and Security” in December 2012, the President of Turkmenistan noted that in proposing Ashgabat as the location for the UNRCCA headquarters, the countries were guided by two fundamental motives. First is the need to give the peacekeeping efforts of the international community in Central Asia a systemic character, their institutional consolidation at the UN level. Secondly, the awareness of the ideological commonality of the neutral model of foreign policy to the goals of international preventive diplomacy, their complementarity as the most important factors in maintaining peace and security at the regional and global levels.
It should be especially emphasized that the ideas of neutrality and preventive diplomacy as a means of preventing the emergence and escalation of conflicts have deep roots in the spiritual and historical experience of the Turkmen people, which has shaped their mentality. There are many examples in national history, recorded in written sources and numerous folk tales, that our ancestors preferred non-confrontational ways of interacting with other peoples, peaceful resolution of disputes and problems. And one of them is the story of the liberation of the brother of the Turkmen musician Shukur Bakhshi from captivity of the Iranian khan. The inhabitants of the village offered him to ransom his brother or free him with the help of an armed attack, taking a saber in hand. But after a sleepless night of thinking about whether there are other ways to resolve the conflict except for battle, and recalling the poems of Magtymguly, the musician goes to the enemy camp completely unarmed, taking with him only a musical instrument – the dutar.
This real story, recorded from the words of a contemporary of the musician, formed the basis for the story of Nurmurad Saryhanov “Shukur Bakhshi” and the film “Competition” filmed by Bulat Mansurov based on this work. The film about Shukur Bakhshi, who managed to prevent the war with his virtuoso performance, made a great impression on the National Leader of the Turkmen people Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who wrote the book “Music of Peace, Music of Friendship and Brotherhood”, imbued with the idea of the peacekeeping mission of art. In the work of the Hero-Arkadag, it is emphasized that “the world is initially harmonious. It is important to find this harmony, the coupling of natural and social phenomena, physical and spiritual forces, the ideal and the real, the divine and the human. This will be the point of equilibrium, when there are no strong and weak, winners and losers. Art begins with it, diplomacy begins with it ...”
In his book, Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov refers to the image of Shukur Bakhshi as the antipode of a forceful solution to problems, “when the ability to win and achieve goals is based not on the force of arms, but on the use of peaceful means.” And in this regard, the act of Shukur Bakhshi reflects the mentality of the Turkmen people and the country that has chosen neutral status as a path to peace and prosperity.
As Hero-Arkadag emphasizes, the peace-loving policy of our neutral state takes its origins from the examples of such personalities as Shukur Bakhshi – the spokesman of the soul and the great son of the Turkmen people, who was able to change the meaning of the ancient proverb “When the guns speak, the muses are silent” to “When the muses speak, the guns are silent”. The significance of this feat was also noted by the world-famous writer Chingiz Aitmatov in his article “Music that beat swords into ploughshares”, published in the Sovetskaya Kultura Newspaper. Characterizing the film about Shukur Bakhshi “Competition”, he wrote that the film touches on a number of current issues of history and modernity, the story told is dedicated to the eternal theme of the duel between good and evil, war and peace.
In creating the Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia, the logic of the foreign policy of neutral Turkmenistan objectively coincided with both the peacekeeping aspirations of the UN in the region and the awareness of the Community of Nations of the ever-increasing role of preventive diplomacy as one of the effective instruments of modern international politics.
Characterizing the Center as an optimal platform for interaction between Central Asian countries, active involvement of international organizations in regional issues, the head of state Serdar Berdimuhamedov emphasizes that in the present and future the potential of the Center will be in demand in such important areas as energy security, transport and communications, environmental security, Afghan issues and many others.
Turkmenistan provides comprehensive support to the activities of the Regional Center, taking an active part in the preventive efforts of the United Nations in support of member states. Joint actions of the Government of Turkmenistan and the Center are aimed at achieving the strategic goal – the establishment of peace, stability and security in Central Asia. The Centre is mandated to liaise with the governments of the region on preventive diplomacy matters; conduct monitoring and analysis; engage with regional organizations and facilitate information exchange. The Centre also provides policy guidance and direction to the preventive activities of the UN country teams and works closely with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan to ensure a comprehensive and integrated assessment of the situation in the region.
The Centre’s mandate is set out in the Program of Action for 2021–2025, developed in consultation with the governments of Central Asian states. The document focuses on five priority areas: promoting preventive diplomacy among the governments of Central Asia; monitoring and early warning for conflict prevention; building partnerships for conflict prevention, including with regional and sub-regional organizations; strengthening UN preventive activities in the region; promoting cooperation and collaboration between the countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan.
At the meeting between President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Kakha Imnadze on 14 August 2023, it was emphasized that the Centre is carrying out effective work to promote preventive diplomacy, has created new formats of interaction and implemented specific programs. Over the past years, UNRCCA has established itself as an effective platform linking the United Nations system with Central Asian countries in the search for solutions to pressing issues and problems of our time.
Expressing sincere gratitude to President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Hero-Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for their ongoing support in the activities of the Regional Centre, the head of UNRCCA emphasized that neutral Turkmenistan makes a significant contribution to strengthening peace, creating a climate of mutual understanding and trust, promoting constructive political and diplomatic dialogue in the region and the world. As noted, the Regional Centre, for its part, will do everything possible to strengthen fruitful cooperation, based on solid experience of joint work and possessing great potential.
Following its neutral policy to ensure regional peace, security and development, consistently revealing the potential of preventive diplomacy, Turkmenistan has repeatedly emphasized the role of UNRCCA at the UN platform. Thus, the effectiveness of this institution of the United Nations in the Central Asian region was emphasized in the UN General Assembly Resolution initiated by Turkmenistan and adopted in November 2017 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Centre. The Resolution “The Role of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia”, initiated by Turkmenistan with the co-authorship of 72 Member States of the Organization, was unanimously adopted on April 16, 2021, within the framework of the 59th meeting of the 75th anniversary session of the UN General Assembly. On February 24, 2023, during the 60th plenary meeting of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, the Resolution “The Role of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia”, submitted by Turkmenistan on behalf of the Central Asian countries, was again adopted under agenda item 58 “Peace-building and Sustaining Peace”.
The Turkmen side emphasized that this document places special emphasis on the initiatives of the Regional Center aimed at empowering women and youth, such as the Academy of Preventive Diplomacy for Youth Education and the Central Asian Women’s Dialogue, created in accordance with the UN global action programs “Women, Peace and Security” and “Youth, Peace and Security”. The text of the resolution noted such significant political events for Central Asia over the past few years as the establishment of a mechanism for regular Consultative Meetings of the Heads of State of Central Asia, the establishment of the Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation of Central Asia based on the UN General Assembly Resolution of July 28, 2022, and the adoption of the Updated Joint Action Plan of Central Asian Countries to Combat Terrorism in March 2022.
In this regard, the advisability of using the experience of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in other regions of the world was emphasized in order to develop a global conflict early warning network under the auspices of the Community of Nations. The UN General Assembly delegates supported the activities of the Centre and its efforts to strengthen the dialogue between the countries of Central Asia and resolve pressing regional issues. The resolution was adopted by consensus, and 91 states became its co-authors.
As a responsible member of the international community, neutral Turkmenistan consistently advocates the effective use of political and diplomatic mechanisms and the potential of preventive diplomacy in international affairs to achieve sustainable development, peace and security. In fact, implementing initiatives aimed at deepening regional integration, our country intends to continue to actively participate in the multilateral activities carried out by the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in order to effectively implement the Global Agenda until 2030.
In today’s turbulent world, preventive diplomacy is becoming the most important, and in some cases, a decisive factor in preventing conflicts, timely transferring disputes and contradictions into the negotiating channel. Turkmenistan’s neutrality creates a practical basis for promoting preventive diplomacy, the essence of which is the country’s readiness to participate in resolving all issues arising in the global and regional dimensions through peaceful, political and diplomatic means and methods. This is the creation of conditions for equal, respectful, mutually beneficial international partnership in politics, economics, environmental protection, ensuring universal food security, fair and efficient distribution of the planet’s natural resources, support and assistance to refugees, migrants and stateless persons, and for resolving many other pressing problems of our time. Thus, Turkmenistan’s neutrality and preventive diplomacy are complementary elements aimed at ensuring sustainable peace and security both in the country and on the planet as a whole.
As noted in the final document of the International Conference “The Policy of Neutrality and its Importance in Ensuring International Peace, Security and Sustainable Development”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Turkmenistan's permanent neutrality, the national policy of neutrality is designed to encourage the use of preventive diplomacy, which is one of the main functions of the United Nations, in conflict prevention, mediation, negotiations, good offices, fact-finding missions, special envoys, informal consultations, peace-building and targeted development activities.
Today, when Turkmenistan is preparing to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its permanent neutrality, the principles of which are the basis of its statehood, domestic and foreign policies, the country’s international authority is increasingly enhanced by new constructive international initiatives aimed at strengthening peace and security, the common good and sustainable development.
