We are approaching the end of the first quarter of the 21st century (I would not dare to say that this period was cloudless for humanity)...

But at this moment we have entered the International Year of Peace and Trust, declared by the UN on the initiative of Turkmenistan. In our time, it is precisely these spiritual values - Peace and Trust - that the human race, divided by opposing centers of power, lacks. Today, as never before, the confrontation of different systems has intensified - in politics, ideology, in the assessment of moral principles and spiritual guidelines.

The most alarming thing is that in the modern world, military confrontation has intensified to a greater extent than ever before. But what is worse is that "hot heads" are active, ready to use the most dangerous invention of humanity to resolve antagonistic contradictions, capable of destroying humanity itself.

And Homo Insipiens (Unreasonable Man - in the literal sense) has accumulated a whole list of them in his arsenal - hydrogen bombs, volumetric explosion munitions, phosphorus munitions and other weapons of mass destruction - biological, climatic, etc. The last of them is a cybernetic weapon of mass destruction. And the very first was - a nuclear bomb.

When it was created as part of the Manhattan Project and the USSR Atomic Project, we were told for a long time that the atomic bomb was not for practical use. It was a deterrent. But, to our greatest regret, this apocalyptic monster had already been used twice by that time. And today is the tragic anniversary of its second use.

Today we remember the tragic anniversary of the second use of nuclear weapons: 80 years ago, on August 9, 1945, the Fat Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Three days earlier, on August 6, the Little Boy atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima. Both bombs were given blasphemous names that sharply contrasted with their destructive power.

Since then, human history has been divided into two periods - before and after August 6, 1945. On that day, the American military released the atomic genie from a top-secret jug. If before that date an aggressor could destroy a tribe, a city, and even an entire country, then after that judgment day man was presented with the prospect of destroying all of humanity.

On that fateful day, the Enola Gay bomber dropped the Little Boy on Hiroshima, which crushed the huge city and incinerated its population in an apocalyptic fire.

Three days later, on August 9 (exactly one month before the Great Victory), the American Fat Man swallowed up the Japanese Nagasaki. Although a cruel fate was to befall another Japanese city, Kokura. But it was saved from imminent destruction by the fact that heavy clouds formed over the city and the pilots were forced to drop the deadly cargo on neighboring Nagasaki...

Today, the situation in the modern world has become so conflict-prone that it has become common to hear not only rumors about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, but also direct statements about it. And this causes increased concern among the world community.

The historical experience of the Central Asian region testifies to the danger of playing nuclear roulette. He had already had to endure the fact that nuclear tests were carried out in the northeast of Central Asia, which were stopped only when our countries gained independence.

Subsequently, in 1994, Turkmenistan joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and four years later, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which was enshrined in a number of international legal acts.

Throughout the complex path to regional security, Central Asia felt the effective support of the United Nations.

The fateful result of this activity was the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia, signed on September 8, 2006 in Semipalatinsk. Its participants were Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Treaty entered into force on March 21, 2009.

And this step marked the nuclear-free status of the entire region. This Treaty, having increased the international prestige of the Central Asian countries, demonstrated their commitment to the ideals of peace and security. The creation of a nuclear-free zone, on the one hand, prevents the proliferation of nuclear technologies and materials in Central Asia, and on the other, helps to strengthen trust between the states of the region.

Important actions in the nuclear non-proliferation regime have become joint work and exchange of experience between peacekeeping structures aimed at further strengthening international security. In this regard, a special place is occupied by the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone and the African Commission on Nuclear Energy signed on December 22, 2023.

And last year, exactly 15 years after the entry into force of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia, an anniversary meeting of the states-parties that signed this important document was held in Ashgabat.

According to head of the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Kakha Imnadze, at that time, this Treaty represented a major breakthrough and opened up the prospect of further regional cooperation in the pursuit of general disarmament and security. Within the framework of that meeting, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia and the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the Final Document “Strengthening Cooperation between Existing Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones” were signed. And this became evidence of the consolidation of regional efforts at the global level.

Another international document that clearly demonstrates the peacekeeping position of neutral Turkmenistan is the UN General Assembly resolution of December 2, 2024, "Zone of Peace, Trust and Cooperation in Central Asia", adopted on the initiative of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov.

As ORIENT wrote, at the government meeting held on July 18, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov presented to the President of Turkmenistan new initiatives to strengthen partnership with international organizations, voicing proposals to strengthen the country's role in matters of global security and control over nuclear energy.

In particular, an initiative was presented to hold a joint seminar with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization with the participation of the states of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This event, according to the head of the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan, "will facilitate the exchange of experience and strengthen regional coordination."

Initiatives were voiced to establish a mechanism for the use of data from the international monitoring system of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by Turkmen relevant agencies, as well as to strengthen cooperation with the IAEA.

President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov fully approved important initiatives to strengthen cooperation in the field of international security.

... Thus, in the raging sea of military and geopolitical conflicts, our region has become an island not only of peace, but also of world-building. Even despite the fact that four members of the nuclear club out of nine are located next to Central Asia.

True, there was also a tenth member of the nuclear club - the Republic of South Africa. But in the early 1990s, it destroyed the nuclear weapons it had developed on its own and, having frozen all work in this area, became the first state in the world to voluntarily renounce their use.

A good example to follow, but in today's realities - fantastic.

In the foreseeable future, Central Asia will further strengthen cooperation with international organizations in the field of nuclear security, as well as the expansion of the nuclear-free zone to other regions. Specifically, in geographical terms, it seems relevant to expand the Central Asian zone to the Caucasus and Afghanistan, as well as to the Caspian maritime zone in general.

In the more distant future, nuclear-free zones like the Central Asian one, spreading across planet Earth, should become a united front in the fight for peace, combining their efforts to create a global security system.

Sounds like a fairy tale. But I really want to believe it.

Bekdurdy AMANSARYEV,

Center for Strategic Studies of the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan