NATO member Turkey would consider taking its relations with the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to a higher level, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
西側との決別を否定しつつアジアとの対話を重視するトルコの方針
中国・習近平国家主席との会談と経済的結びつきの背景
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan on Thursday, as he reaffirmed his country’s commitment to strengthening ties with the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) bloc after the pair’s first meeting in nearly two years. The two leaders, meeting on the margins of the SCO summit in the Kazakh capital, Astana, discussed bilateral as well as global issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, a readout from the Turkish Presidency said.
Ankara is in talks with the Asian powerhouse to build Turkey’s third nuclear power plant, to be constructed in the country’s northwest region, as well as to deepen the two countries’ cooperation in the energy field. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on energy transition during Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar’s visit to Beijing in May. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also paid his first visit to China in June as the country’s top diplomat; he also traveled to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
Erdogan, once an outspoken critic of Beijing due to its treatment of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority of Turkic origin, has muted his criticism over the past years, wary of derailing economic ties with its third-largest trade partner in Asia. China is also the third-largest trade partner of Turkey, with the two countries’ trade volume exceeding $47 billion last year.
黒海における民間船舶の安全確保と穀物輸送の課題
Erdogan also said on Wednesday that a mechanism is needed to permanently ensure the safety of commercial maritime transport in the Black Sea before a grain crisis escalates. Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey had prepared a plan for the safe passage of grain via the Black Sea, and that it was in contact with both Russia and Ukraine regarding it. Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks on Tuesday in Bishkek on the sidelines of the SCO summit, and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin had discussed the situation in the Black Sea with Erdogan.
However, Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023, complaining that its own food and fertilizer exports faced serious obstacles. In comments on recent efforts to reach a deal, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Wednesday that Moscow sees no grounds for the Black Sea grain agreement to resume, leaving diplomatic efforts facing continued hurdles.