One Nation, Many Voices? External Cohesion of the Turkic Council States in the United Nations General Assembly, 1993-2011

Abstract

This article examines the degree to which the members of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Turkey), known as CCTS or the Turkic Council, act cohesively in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Analyzing UNGA voting cohesion of the Turkic Council countries from 1993 to 2011 and comparing them to that of all UN members, the article finds that the Turkic Council states' voting agreement on foreign policy issues has been increasing steadily, which may indicate that their overall foreign policy preferences have been converging. In fact, their voting cohesion has been higher than that of the UN average since 2007. Moreover, the research reveals that the Turkic states are most cohesive on Middle East and colonial issues but least cohesive on nuclear armament and development issues in the UNGA.