President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted an official welcoming ceremony for visiting Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday, hours after he made an exception for him and welcomed Tokayev at the airport in Ankara.
Tokayev’s visit aims to boost bilateral relations between the two countries. This year marks the 33rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Türkiye, opening a new chapter in cooperation between the two countries. Tokayev is on an official visit at the invitation of Erdoğan.
Erdoğan and Tokayev were scheduled to co-chair the fifth meeting of the Türkiye-Kazakhstan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council later on Tuesday.
The meeting’s agenda includes reviewing the current status of the enhanced strategic partnership and identifying new steps to deepen cooperation. Discussions will also focus on developing the Middle Corridor, which spans both countries’ borders, and expanding collaboration in the energy, defense industry, trade, agriculture, media and cultural sectors.
Negotiations between the delegations are expected to result in the signing of numerous documents aimed at reinforcing the legal framework of Turkish-Kazakh relations.
Relations between Türkiye and Kazakhstan hold special significance due to the shared cultural roots and historical ties between the two peoples.
Türkiye was the first country to recognize and support Kazakhstan’s independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union on Dec. 16, 1991. Diplomatic relations were officially established on March 2, 1992, the same year Kazakhstan opened its embassy in Ankara.
Currently, Türkiye has an embassy in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana), as well as consulates general in Almaty, Aktau and Turkistan, and an honorary consulate in Shymkent. Kazakhstan maintains an embassy in Ankara, consulates general in Istanbul, Antalya and Izmir, and honorary consulates in Denizli, Alanya, Bursa, Bitlis, Hatay, Konya and Mersin.
Türkiye-Kazakhstan ties were elevated to a “strategic partnership” with a 2009 agreement and further upgraded to an “enhanced strategic partnership” in 2022.
Since gaining independence, Kazakh presidents have made more than 20 official visits to Türkiye. Since his election in 2019, Tokayev has held 14 bilateral meetings with Erdoğan.
Both countries are founding members of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) and actively cooperate through institutions such as the Turkic Parliamentary Assembly, the Turkic Academy, the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TÜRKSOY) and the Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation to promote integration across the Turkic world.
They also collaborate bilaterally and multilaterally within the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia and the Economic Cooperation Organization.
Despite ongoing global geopolitical and geoeconomic crises, trade between the two nations continues to grow.
In 2024, bilateral trade reached $5 billion (TL 202.86 billion). According to the Kazakh Ministry of Trade and Integration, trade between January and May exceeded $1.9 billion.
Türkiye is one of Kazakhstan’s most prominent investors, injecting $5.2 billion into its economy between 2005 and 2024. Currently, 3,538 Turkish capital companies operate in Kazakhstan.
Seventy-eight joint projects have been implemented between Türkiye and Kazakhstan so far.
Education and tourism cooperation also stand out in Turkish-Kazakh relations.
More than 12,000 Kazakh students currently pursue higher education in Türkiye, and 300 additional Kazakh students qualified for Türkiye Scholarships in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Türkiye is also a top destination for Kazakh tourists, with 863,000 visiting last year. Meanwhile, 130,000 tourists traveled from Türkiye to Kazakhstan in the same period.
To boost tourism and investment ties, Kazakhstan extended the visa-free stay for Turkish citizens from 30 to 90 days.
