The Role of Turkic Nations in a Tariff War
04.09.2025
By Valikhan Tuleshov
Friends, the Turkic nations, particularly Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, could not only navigate the evolving global landscape, but also emerge as pivotal players in the new geofinancial architecture.
As the U.S. and EU engage in open technological and financial confrontation, China and the BRICS nations are advancing their own alternatives: CIPS, the digital yuan, and blockchain platforms. With the global economy fracturing, the world urgently needs neutral platforms and trust infrastructures, unburdened by superpower allegiance.
Echoing this sentiment, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, has underscored the critical need to bolster control over Europe’s digital payment systems and reduce reliance on foreign platforms like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Alipay, as reported by exclusive.kz, citing frankmedia.ru. In a recent interview on Ireland’s "The Pat Kenny Show," Lagarde emphasized that the transfer of European citizens’ critical data outside the region necessitates the rapid development of indigenous payment infrastructure within Europe.
Lagarde highlighted the European reliance on non-European, primarily U.S. and Chinese, infrastructure for online payments, card transactions, and mobile payments. While acknowledging these companies' adherence to European standards, she stressed the EU’s imperative to establish its own alternatives to mitigate potential unforeseen circumstances.
This context underscores the urgent need for the resurgent Turkic Middle Civilization to articulate and present its own multilateral and polysociocultural digital project to the world. This initiative should encompass the establishment of a Turkic Clearing Center (TRC)—a multi-currency, geopolitically neutral platform for settlements, reserve storage, digital contracts, and the exchange of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) among Asian, European, and Global South nations.
This vision is attainable, given the fintech experimentation and robust IT infrastructure already present in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.
Kazakhstan offers a neutral jurisdiction with international standing (AIFC in Astana).
The Turkic nations possess a geographically and politically balanced position between the West, East, and Global South.
Turkey, a NATO member, actively fosters ties with China and Russia.
The Turkic Council demonstrates a unified political will for strategic autonomy.
The TRC's advantage lies in providing a neutral alternative to BIS and SWIFT for East-West settlements. Serving as a trust platform for developing nations weary of geopolitical manipulation, it would offer a sanctuary of stability. The Digital Silk Road, facilitated through Turkey, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, would establish a vital financial link across Eurasia.
Such a center would mediate conflicts and crises through financial settlements, not military intervention, thereby consolidating the Turkic world’s economic and digital sovereignty. The influence of Turkic nations on the global stage would dramatically increase, transcending mere transit routes to become institutional architects.
Ultimately, this initiative would foster a new ideology grounded in digital humanism and technological neutrality.
