A Turkish delegation consisting of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) director were in Tashkent on Thursday for a meeting with Uzbek officials. During a meeting with his counterpart Bakhtiyor Saidov, Minister Fidan emphasized the importance of strengthening and institutionalizing strategic cooperation between their countries.
Fidan highlighted the significance of bolstering ties, not only for both countries but also for the wider Turkic world. “There is a great will from our leaders to institutionalize the cooperation and take it further,” Fidan said, calling for enhanced collaboration to address modern challenges.
The talks followed the third meeting of the Türkiye-Uzbekistan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, held in Ankara in June, which Fidan described as a “historic turning point.” He said the meeting resulted in important decisions aimed at advancing bilateral relations.
The delegation is expected to discuss security issues and explore further opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
The sides will discuss bilateral political and economic ties, as well as venues of security cooperation, and follow up on the decisions taken at the third high-level strategic cooperation council meeting in Türkiye earlier in June.
Defense industry, energy, transportation, culture, education, irregular migration and counterterrorism will also be on the agenda.
The summit will touch upon regional developments, notably in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), and the cooperation between regional and international institutions.
The summit follows Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to Ankara in June. The sides inked a joint declaration to deepen strategic cooperation and 18 other agreements in various sectors, from energy to human resources, agriculture to trade.
Turkish investments in Uzbekistan are valued at over $1.5 billion (TL 51 billion). They are driven by more than 2,000 firms operating across Uzbekistan, making Türkiye one of the top three countries with the most companies in the Central Asian nation.
Türkiye and Uzbekistan reported $3.12 billion in bilateral trade volume for 2023 and aimed to raise it to $5 billion in the coming years.
The cultural kinship between the two countries, which are part of the OTS, was the major driving force of relations.
Türkiye was the first country to recognize Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As part of then-President Turgut Özal’s plan to deepen relations with Turkic-speaking Central Asian countries, Ankara sought to reach out to Tashkent under the Islam Karimov administration.
Yet, ties deteriorated over political differences in the following decades. President Erdoğan’s 2016 visit to Uzbekistan, a key country in the region with its location, history, rich cultural values and economic potential, changed the course of relations.
Mirziyoyev’s visit to Türkiye in 2017, as the first sitting Uzbek president to make such a visit in 21 years, further reanimated the relations.
