This year, Turkey and China are set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, with hopes to further improve economic and trade relations. China is already Turkey’s top trade partner in Asia with around $20 billion trade volume.
On Dec. 28, this column concluded that one of Turkey’s priorities in foreign policy would be to balance its ties between Russia and its Western partners to avoid being excluded from the trans-Atlantic alliance once the Biden administration comes to power on Jan. 20.
“It’s never a dull moment,” is the saying when it comes to describing the domestic and external political landscape of Turkey. And 2020 has certainly not been an exception to this description.
As suggested by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Dec. 25, Turkey is working on a road map with the European Union to create a positive atmosphere for future ties. It’s also in talks with France after months of mutual megaphone diplomacy that resulted in an unprecedented deterioration in ties. Ankara and Paris seem to have agreed on a road map that includes the desire to avoid harsh mutual criticisms through the media so as to mend their ties in the coming period.
Turkish-EU history will certainly not mark 2020 as one of the best years in relations. Although the first half of the year witnessed high-level talks between Ankara and Brussels that paved the way for talks to return to normalcy, developments in the eastern Mediterranean in the second half of the year have created an unprecedented escalation in ties.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s recent conversations with EU Council President Charles Michel and German Chancellor Angela Merkel focused on the future ties between Ankara and Brussels in light of the EU Council’s recent conclusions.
Four years ago today, on Dec. 19, both Turkey and Russia, as well as all diplomatic communities, were shocked by the news of the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov.
With around more than a month to hand over the White House to President-elect Joe Biden, the Trump administration has taken the inevitable step and imposed sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition of S-400 air defense systems from Russia.
As the world marked the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement with a summit over the weekend, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all governments around the world to declare a state of climate emergency until the planet reached net zero CO2 emissions.
