Bilateral Relations

Turkey has established diplomatic relations with India in 1947, just after the Independence of the Latter and the Turkish Embassy in India was opened in 1948. During the Cold War period, a close relationship and cooperation between the two countries could not be constituted since they were members of different blocks.

After the Cold War, the changing global environment had a positive impact on Turkey-India relations. At the moment, the two countries regard each other as rising stars in their respective regions and the world and spare no efforts to keep the bilateral relations at an excellent level. There are no problems in the bilateral relations.

Political relations and visits

In concordance with the improving bilateral relations, there is a significant increase at the mutual high level visits. From Turkish side, there have been high-level visits by Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in November 2008 and President H.E. Mr. Abdullah Gül in February 2010 to India. These visits have been the first presidential and prime ministerial visits from Turkey to India after more than a decade. The latest high-level visit to India was conducted by President H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 30 April-1 May 2017. Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Mr. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also visited New Delhi for a bilateral visit on 18-20 August 2016, and Amritsar to participate at “Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process Ministerial Conference” meeting on 3-4 December 2016.

From Indian side, there have been similarly high-profile visits by President H.E. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee on 5-7 October 2013, Vice President H.E. Mr. Mohammed Hamid Ansari on 10-15 October 2011, and Minister of External Affairs H.E. Mr. Salman Khurshid on 20-22 July 2013. Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi visited Antalya on November 2015 to attend the G-20 Leaders Summit hosted by Turkey. The latest ministerial visit from India was made by Minister of External Affairs H.E. Mrs. Sushma Swaraj on 15-16 January 2015.

In the framework of regular political consultations between two countries’ Foreign Ministries, the last meeting was held on 17 April 2015 co-chaired by secretaries of both ministries.

On the occasion of the 125^thanniversary of the voyage of the Ottoman frigate “Ertuğrul” to Japan, TCG Gediz frigate from Turkish Navy visited Mumbai Port on 20-23 April 2015 and Chennai Port on 2-4 July 2015 in its sailing program through South and East Asia.