On May 10, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev paid a state visit to Ankara and met with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The day started with a visit to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of the Republic of Turkey. After the official ceremony at the presidential palace, the two sides held negotiations on the Kazakh-Turkish strategic partnership and signed 14 agreements regarding different industries. 

'Kazakhstan and Turkey are fraternal nations with common historic roots'

President Tokayev noted that Turkey was the first country to recognize Kazakhstan’s independence. He highlighted Turkey's role as one of Kazakhstan's most important and reliable partners in Eurasia, placing it on the list of top-5 trade partners and top-10 major investors.

The two countries discussed matters of strengthening their relations as strategic partners. On May 11, President Tokayev will meet with the largest Turkish investors to sign a number of commercial agreements worth $1 billion.

President Erdoğan accepted Tokayev’s invitation to visit Kazakhstan, which is scheduled in fall 2022.

Kazakhstan and Turkey agree on military cooperation

The heads of defense of two states signed a number of documents for bilateral military cooperation. Kazakh Minister of Defense Colonel-General Ruslan Zhaksylykov also met with Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu and visited the Special Operations Command of the Turkish Armed Forces.

Light-hearted fun

The visit did not go by without funny incidents. As the delegation of Kazakhstan was being introduced to President Erdoğan, the Turkish leader noticed the rather young appearance of Minister of Digital Development Bagdat Musin and asked for his age. Erdoğan was surprised to learn that Musin is 39 years old and can speak Turkish.

Later in the day, after a busy schedule of serious talks the presidents faced off for a friendly match of table tennis.