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Turkey |
Chinese–Turkish relations are foreign relations between the People's Republic of China and Turkey. Turkey recognized the PRC on 5 August 1971. Turkey pursues One-China policy and recognizes the PRC as the sole legal representative of China. The PRC has an embassy in Ankara, and a consulate–general in Istanbul whereas Turkey has an embassy in Beijing and 2 consulates–general in Hong Kong and Shanghai. However, recently, because of China's recent conflicts with Turkic Uyghur separatists, relations have at times been strained.
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On 28 November 2008, Jia Qinglin, China’s top political advisor and the chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference, gave an official goodwill visit to Turkey as guest of Turkish Parliament Speaker Köksal Toptan. In Ankara, Jia met Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After visiting Ankara, Jia attended a business forum entitled "Turkish-Chinese Economic and Commercial Opportunities Forum" in İstanbul.[1]
Turkish President Abdullah Gül has become the first Turkish president to visit China in 14 years with his official visit between on 24–29 June 2009.[2][3] Gül said one of the major goals of his visit was to boost economic relations.[4] In Beijing, Gül hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and attended a Turkey-China business forum.[5] Following the meetings, seven cooperation agreements were signed between the two countries in the fields of energy, banking, finance and culture.[6] After Beijing, Gül visited Xian, and he was awarded with an honourary doctorate by the Xian Northwest University.[7] In the third leg of his China trip, Gül visited Shenzhen.[8] Upon an invitation of the Beijing administration, Gül also visited Urumqi, and has become the first Turkish president visiting Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.[9]
Initially in response to the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the Foreign Ministry of Turkey urged the Chinese authorities to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.[10] But some officials disagreed: a deputy from ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party resigned from the Turkey-China Interparliamentary Friendship Group,[11] and in his personal capacity, Turkey's industry and trade minister called on Turks to boycott Chinese goods to protest the continuing ethnic violence,[12][13] to which the Chinese charge d’affaires in Ankara expressed "surprise".[14] After daily demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan strengthened his rhetoric and said "These incidents in China are as if they are genocide. We ask the Chinese government not to remain a spectator to these incidents."[15] China demanded that Recep Tayyip Erdogan retract his accusation; editorials in the state-run China Daily pointed out that 137 of the 184 victims of the unrest were Han Chinese,[16] A phone conversation between China and Turkey's respective foreign ministers reaffirmed the importance of Turkish-Chinese relations, and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Turkey did not intend "to interfere with the domestic affairs of China".[17]
On October 7, 2010, China and Turkey signed eight cooperation agreements relating to trade, cultural and technical exchange, marine cooperation, and other things. At the signing ceremony attended by both of the countries' prime ministers, both pledged to increase bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2015, and to cooperate in building high-speed rail to link Ankara to Istanbul.[18] Later in November, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu toured China for six days and met with his counterpart Yang Jiechi, after Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visited Turkey and upgraded the China–Turkey relationship to a "strategic partnership". Among the joint pledges the foreign ministers made in China were to start a Turkish industrial zone in Xinjiang[19] and to jointly crack down on separatism and terrorism, including on anti-China separatist activities in Turkey.[20] Commentators have cited these stronger ties as further proof of a realignment of Turkish foreign policy to the "East".[19]
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