TURKMENISTAN- 25 Years of Permanent Neutrality.

Byline: Muhammad Asif Noor

This year, Turkmenistan will celebrate 25 years of pursuing permanent neutrality policy adopted as an essence of the country's foreign policy approach, recognized and endorsed by the United Nations. This unique status of Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan, recognized by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on December 12, 1995 and again supported by another landmark resolution by the UN General Assembly on June 3, 2015.

This has been an essence of Turkmenistan's foreign policy, making a unique worldview that has defined Turkmenistan's global stance for reaching out for the peace and development for the international cooperation.

To acknowledge the neutrality of Turkmenistan and its efforts for regional peace and stability, the UN General Assembly has also declared December 12 as the International Day of Neutrality on February 2, 2017 by passing resolution A/ RES/71/275).

For celebrating this year in a beautiful and memorable manner especially highlighting the role of Turkmenistan across the globe about the policy of permanent neutrality, the government of Turkmenistan has outlined meticulous plans to host conferences, forums, exhibitions at various levels in both country and globally. Inaugural event was an International Conference "Turkmenistan and International Organizations: Cooperation for Peace and Development" held in Ashgabat in January 2020.

On the occasion President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow made a resounding commitment to continue supporting the UN in its global efforts for building cooperation and peace and outlined the entire foreign policy of Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has promoted sustainable peace and culture for dialogue in resolving all the issues of conflict amongst states without becoming a party to anyone.

The anniversary celebration of gaining this unique status of the permanent neutrality of the country has been designed by drafting an important slogan "Turkmenistan Home of Neutrality". There is a strong need for countries such as Turkmenistan to take the lead in enabling building blocks for consensus and ensuring regional and international peace, security and sustainable development.

Turkmenistan has adopted this characteristic of its foreign policy of permanent neutrality as a logical extension of its domestic policy. Similar to other nation states across the globe, the foremost aim of Turkmenistan's foreign policy is to protect and strengthen the state's...