MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Turkey and the United States want to obtain a status of the partner in dialogue at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
"Ankara's and Washington's interest proves that we have managed to create a serious and influential organization within the shortest period of time," the Kommersant newspaper said, citing a source from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
As for Turkey, the matter is virtually settled, the source said.
"No one has any objection over the Turkish application. In principle, the SCO was ready to approve it at its June summit in Astana, but did not manage to complete all the procedures. It is likely to be approved at the next summit," the source said.
In the case of the U.S., things are not that simple, he said.
"Russia and even China are ready to give the partner status to the Americans. Their logic is that the U.S. will not find out any particular secrets, at the same time it will raise the prestige of the SCO. However, some Central Asian stations, in particular, Uzbekistan, are categorically against it," the source said.
In showing its interest in cooperation with the SCO, the U.S. first and foremost offers a dialogue on human rights, he said.
"And for Central Asian states, Washington is not the most comfortable interlocutor on this subject," he said.
This is why the U.S. may choose not to apply for the partner status, he said.
"At the SCO, decisions are made by a consensus, and it turns out that we will not be able to admit the U.S. as a partner. For Washington, such a situation would be slightly humiliating. And for the SCO too - with its declared principle of openness - a refusal will be embarrassing. So both sides are likely to try to avoid embarrassment in this case," he said.
For its part, Washington has confirmed its interest in the SCO.
We underestimated the potential of this structure. Surprisingly, over the past ten years Moscow and Beijing managed to create an organization with an articulate concept and growing influence. Of course, this is not NATO, the values of the SCO member states are totally different, but it sill an interesting format with a potential for growth. We would like to know more about the work of the organization, a source from the U.S. Department of State told Kommersant.
The SCO introduced a partner in dialogue status in 2008. It is lower than the observer and allows attendance to only some SCO events. Moreover, the partner states do not get access to the organization's secret documents.