Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in China's Tianjin city on Sunday to attend the 25th Heads of State Council meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a guest of honour.
President Erdogan was welcomed at Beijing International Airport by Chinese State Minister Ley Haycao, Turkish Ambassador to Beijing Selcuk Unal and embassy personnel.
Erdogan will attend the dinner hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping in honour of the leaders as part of the 25th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The Turkish president will address the summit session to be held in an expanded format on Monday, Türkiye's Head of Communications Burhanettin Duran said earlier.
Erdogan will be in China from August 31 to September 1.
The visit marks Erdogan’s first trip to China in five years and comes amid growing strategic ties between Ankara and Beijing.
During the summit, Erdogan is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as other participating leaders.
Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, MIT Director Ibrahim Kalin, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek, and Minister of National Defence Yasar Guler also arrived in Tianjin.
Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Minister of Trade Omer Bolat, AK Party Deputy Chairman Halit Yerebakan, MHP Deputy Chairman Ismail Faruk Aksu, Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, President of Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun, and Presidential Private Secretary Hasan Dogan also accompanied the Turkish president.
SCO and Türkiye
The SCO, founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and Central Asian states, focuses on regional security, economic cooperation, and counterterrorism.
The full members include Russia, Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The original organisation picked up four new members with the addition of India and Pakistan in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024.
Türkiye has been a dialogue partner of the SCO since 2012, the first and only NATO country to gain this status, reflecting Ankara’s efforts to balance Western alliances with deeper engagement in Eurasia.
Under Erdogan’s leadership, Türkiye has strengthened SCO ties, chairing the SCO Energy Club in 2017 and increasing trade with key members like China and Russia.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit will be held in the port city until Monday, days before a massive military parade in the capital, Beijing, to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.
