Ankara and Tashkent are celebrating the 33rd anniversary of diplomatic ties, with relations elevated to a high-level strategic partnership and bilateral trade surpassing $3 billion.
Türkiye was the first country to recognize Uzbekistan in 1991, establishing diplomatic ties a year later by opening an embassy. Uzbekistan similarly opened a diplomatic mission in Ankara in 1993, The Caspian Post reports citing Turkish media.
Although relations have had their ups and downs, Türkiye views Uzbekistan as a key country in Central Asia with its geostrategic location, deep history, rich cultural values, economic potential and population close to 38 million. Relations turned positive, especially after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Semerkand in 2016, meeting his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
This was reciprocated with Mirziyoyev’s visit to Türkiye, which marked the first presidential-level visit from the country in 21 years.
As a result of the close friendship between the two leaders, ties were elevated to a strategic partnership in 2017, and joint economic commission meetings have started to be held. On the other hand, the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council was established in 2018, and its first meeting was held in Ankara in 2020. This has been followed by reciprocal high-level visits.
Most recently, Mirziyoyev visited Ankara in June 2024, when the two countries’ leaders signed a joint statement as well as nearly 20 agreements on several fields to deepen cooperation.
A new era has begun in trade relations between Türkiye and Uzbekistan since 2016. The bilateral trade volume, which was $1.24 billion in 2016, was recorded as $2.1 billion in 2020, $3.1 billion in 2023, and $3.3 billion in 2024. The parties aim to increase this figure to $5 billion in the near term and $10 billion in the long term. Türkiye, which was among the top five countries in Uzbekistan's foreign trade before 2016, has become the country's fourth largest trade partner, with a 5% share in recent years. Türkiye also ranked first among the countries that established the most companies in Uzbekistan.
Cooperation also increased in the field of education. Last year, a protocol was signed that envisaged the opening of the long-awaited Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) within the Alisher Navoi University in Tashkent. Meanwhile, the Uzbek side finally decided to establish the International University of Turkic States in Tashkent in cooperation with leading universities in Türkiye.
Visa facilitation and frequent flights between the two countries have also added to the momentum. As a result, mutual visits between citizens of the two countries have increased, and the number of Uzbeks visiting Türkiye, which was around 150,000 in 2016, has approached 500,000 in recent years.
Moreover, Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change Minister Aziz Abdukhakimov visited Ankara to meet his Turkish counterpart, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, to discuss cooperation on tourism.
Following the ministers' meeting, the "Protocol of Intent and Action Plan in the Field of Tourism" between the two countries’ ministries was signed.
This document aims to increase the number of flights between the two countries and the number of mutual visitors between them to 1 million.
