The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may open an office in Türkiye in the upcoming period to boost relations, Indonesia’s Ambassador to Ankara and Chairperson of the group’s Ankara committee Achmad Rizal Purnama said.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Sabah, Purnama said that he would work toward achieving this step, which would consist of a major milestone in ties.
“Since my arrival to Türkiye, I met with almost all university heads of Ankara and also in other cities. I raised this issue in particular and there is an interest. I also talked with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. It is time for Türkiye to establish an ASEAN center in the country,” the ambassador said, indicating that the office would likely be established in a university in the capital soon.
Asked what the priorities would be after Indonesia took over the ASEAN chairmanship from Cambodia, Purnama underlined that the big theme would be “to put ASEAN in the radar screen of Türkiye.”
The envoy explained that there were at least two major events since assuming the chairmanship, namely a joint call with Fidan and all ASEAN ambassadors for a “very frank and open conversation” as well as a meeting with Haluk Görgün, head of the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), on defense industry collaboration between Türkiye and ASEAN.
“Our partnership cannot reach its full potential because neither Türkiye nor ASEAN put each other as one of the main partners. This issue needs to be solved. Only by doing this, in our perspective, can we harness our potential,” he added.
Purnama further reiterated that the group and Ankara have experienced significant milestones upon which relations can be built further. In 2010, Türkiye signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. In 2017, it was granted sectoral dialogue partner status. While in 2019, Ankara launched the Asia Anew Initiative to strengthen its ties with the region.
“We need to give more substance to the initiative itself so it can be felt completely from both perspectives and redouble our efforts to be felt by our peoples on the ground.”
To improve ties with Asian countries in different areas, Türkiye launched the Asia Anew initiative. The initiative offers a new vision that might shape the future of Turkish foreign policy as a whole. It aims to improve ties with Asian countries in various areas, including education, the defense industry, investments, trade, technology, culture and political dialogue.
Türkiye considers ASEAN a key organization in the region, considering its combined economy, dynamic population and strategic location.
Purnama demonstrated the state of relations with numbers. “Our partnership is below our potential. There is much room for growth and improvement. With a total market of almost 800 million, our current trade volume is too small.
Accordingly, Türkiye’s total trade volume with ASEAN members in 2023 only reached $14.6 billion, which makes up only 2.36% of Türkiye’s total trade with the world in that year.
“From ASEAN’s perspective, Türkiye is also unfortunately not yet a major trading partner,” Purnama said, giving the examples of China with which the group has trade worth $730 billion and Japan with $227 billion. Moreover, he said, ASEAN is also the fourth-largest trading partner of the U.S.
“We need to instill a new paradigm of partnership and generate an ASEAN fever among the Turkish public and business community. We need to create a similar level of closeness that African countries enjoy with Türkiye.”
Purnama said that he determined a road map with three main steps to boost relations.
“First, we need to have a better understanding of each other’s potential and build awareness. Southeast Asia is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions economically. Indonesia alone will be the fourth largest economy in the world with a GDP of $10.5 trillion. The GDP of Southeast Asia will reach $22.6 trillion. This potential, these numbers alone should be a wake-up call for a greater engagement between ASEAN and Türkiye,” he emphasized.
He said that secondly, priority areas must be identified so that the bilateral partnership can contribute to the welfare of its people. According to Purnama, trade, energy transition, digitalization and disaster management should be among the main priorities.
‘Partnership of the future’
But not only on a bilateral level, ASEAN and Türkiye could also have a global outreach, the ambassador highlighted.
“Thirdly, we need to ensure that our partnership brings a positive contribution to the world. In this kind of messy and polarized world, ASEAN and Türkiye are regional powers with global impacts. We can do more,” he said. “What we see now is that our world is driven by only some countries and their narrow interests. They do not want to see us grow.”
“The partnership between ASEAN and Türkiye is the partnership of the future,” Purnama added.
Saying that a breakthrough is needed as well as an approach to thinking out of the box, Purnama said: “We need to go beyond our comfort zone and our traditional partners toward the future of global growth – which is our region – in the second century of Türkiye.
Market access must be opened while trade barriers must be removed, he continued.
“ASEAN has free trade agreements with all major players such as China, Japan, Korea, India, Hongkong, Australia or New Zealand, while the group is working on finalizing one with Canada. Türkiye has only two free trade agreements in our region, which are with Malaysia and Singapore. To start, let us finish the negotiations with Indonesia.”
‘Peace as a norm’
Purnama also pointed to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent speech following the Cabinet meeting last week in which he described the country’s foreign policy and underlined a comprehensive approach.
“We neither turn our backs on the East for the sake of the West nor neglect the West for the sake of the East. We improve our relations with everyone, starting with our neighbors, in line with the interests of our country. With this understanding, we have taken historic steps to expand Turkey’s sphere of influence in the last 22 years,” the president said.
Purnama, on the other hand, said that Southeast Asia has become a net contributor to peace. “I think everyone can agree that the region is the most stable region in the world right now. This did not happen overnight but took five decades. We had invested immensely in creating a regional security architecture that is inclusive guided by a habit of dialogue and opens all doors for mutually beneficial cooperation. Waging peace has become our norm.”
Saying that ASEAN’s experiences can serve as a good example in other regions, Purnama said,:“Türkiye can play this kind of role in creating a similar security architecture in the Middle East, where such a system is absent. Türkiye can take an active role in peace and stability. One should not forget that national interest can go hand in hand with regional interest.”
