The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Common Security Threats in Central Asia

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which is currently recognized as the most significant grouping in Central Eurasia has been under a great deal of scrutiny since its very inception. However، there have been lots of discussions about the organization’s true nature and main working sphere. With regard to the fact that the security concerns have been the most important pretext for forming the SCO and the security factor has always been of a greater importance on the organization’s agenda، this article tries to analyze the extent of which the SCO has been able to resolve the security concerns of the member states successfully. While introducing the most important security threats in Central Asia، this article shows that the SCO has been able to resolve the security threats of the member states at three levels (international، regional and domestic) and thus، has organized the first real framework for the effective multilateral security cooperation in the region. However، a set of factors، such as historical rivalries and mistrust and the westward policies among some of the member states has prevented the organization to reach the optimum level of its activities.