 | ||
Chinese–Turkish relations are foreign relations between 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.
Contents
History
In 1524 during the Ming dynasty in China, Beijing was visited by representatives of the Ottomans.
Kaiser Wilhelm II was so alarmed by the Chinese Muslim troops in the Boxer Rebellion that he requested the Caliph Abdul Hamid II of the Ottoman Empire to find a way to stop the Muslim troops from fighting. The Caliph agreed to the Kaiser's request and sent Enver Pasha (not the future Young Turk leader) to China in 1901, but the rebellion was over by that time.
Turkish government officials received a Chinese Muslim delegation under Wang Zengshan who denounced the Japanese invasion of China.
Korean War
During the Korean War a Turkish brigade served in the United Nations forces in support of South Korean and American forces and was attached to the U.S. 25th Infantry Division. Turkey was the second country, after the United States, to answer United Nations Resolution 83 requesting military aid to South Korea following the North Korean invasion. The Turkish government sent a brigade of 5,000 troops to fight under UN Command against North Korea and subsequently the People's Republic of China. The brigade fought in several important actions the Battle of Wawon and the battle of Kumyangjang-Ni (25–26 January 1950), in which they were defeated by the Chinese. The brigade was then awarded Unit Citations from South Korea and the United States.
Visits
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.
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. Gül said one of the major goals of his visit was to boost economic relations. In Beijing, Gül hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and attended a Turkey-China business forum. Following the meetings, seven cooperation agreements were signed between the two countries in the fields of energy, banking, finance and culture. After Beijing, Gül visited Xian, and he was awarded with an honorary doctorate by the Xian Northwest University. In the third leg of his China trip, Gül visited Shenzhen. Upon an invitation of the Beijing administration, Gül also visited Urumqi, and has become the first Turkish president visiting Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
2009 riots
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. But some officials disagreed: a deputy from ruling Justice & Development (AK) Party resigned from the Turkey-China Interparliamentary Friendship Group, and in his personal capacity, Turkey's industry and trade minister called on Turks to boycott Chinese goods to protest the continuing ethnic violence, to which the Chinese chargé d'affaires in Ankara expressed "surprise". 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." 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, 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".
Reconciliation
On 7 October 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. 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 and to jointly crack down on separatism and terrorism, including on anti-China separatist activities in Turkey. Commentators have cited these stronger ties as further proof of a realignment of Turkish foreign policy to the "East".
Rebiya Kadeer claimed that Turkey is hampered from interfering with Uyghurs because Turkey recognizes that its own Kurdish issue may get interfered with by China in retaliation.
2015 anti-China protests in Turkey
On 4 July 2015, 2,000 Turkish nationalists protesting against China fasting ban mistakenly attack Korean tourists in Istanbul which led to China issuing travel warning to its citizens traveling to Turkey. The ruling AKP party in power in Turkey has different factions, some of them nationalists who want to inflame tensions with China over Uyghurs, and other pragmatic members who want to maintain good relations with China and believe the Uyghur issue is being abused to spoil relations between China and Turkey by the United States, some other Islamist AKP have accused Rebiya Kadeer of being an "American agent" and "infidel". Turkey has had to follow its own country's interests first with a pragmatic approach to the situation of Turkic peoples in other countries like Uyghurs, Gagauz, and Crimean Tatars.
Devlet Bahçeli, a leader from Turkey's MHP (Nationalist Movement Party), said that the attacks by MHP affiliated Turkish youth on South Korean tourists was "understandable", telling the Turkish news paper Hurriyet that: "What feature differentiates a Korean from a Chinese? They see that they both have slanted eyes. How can they tell the difference?". Another translation of his remarks was : "What is the difference between a Korean and a Chinese anyway? They both have slitty eyes. Does it make any difference?" A Uighur staffed, Turkish owned Chinese restaurant was assaulted by Turkish nationalists, who have also attacked the Dutch consulate which they thought was the Russian consulate.