Ambassador of Türkiye to China: "China is beautiful, Chinese People are friendly”

İsmail Hakkı Musa, Ambassador of Türkiye to China  (People's Daily/Lu Ningyuan)

The popular song lyric that goes “I want to take you to Türkiye to experience the romance” has evoked many people’s longing for Türkiye. Dr. İsmail Hakkı Musa, the Ambassador of Türkiye to China, expressed the hope to see more bilateral endeavors for closer relationship between Türkiye and China in an interview with People’s Daily Overseas Edition.

A witness to the quality behind “Manufactured by China”

In September and October, 2013, during his visits to Central and Southeast Asian countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and received much attention from the international community. In October 2015, the Chinese and Turkish governments signed the Memorandum of Understanding to integrate the BRI with the Middle Corridor Initiative so as to inject new momentum to deepen cooperation between the two countries.

As one of the witnesses to the signing of the MOU, Musa was highly impressed. He pointed out that Türkiye was one of the earliest countries to support the joint development of the BRI. With the concerted effort of the two countries, the BRI and the Middle Corridor Initiative were well integrated with continuous solid achievements upon pragmatic cooperation. The Hunutlu Thermal Power Plant constructed by the Chinese enterprise was just one of the good examples. On June 28, 2022, the first plant unit was successfully put into production, with a total installed capacity of 1,320 megawatts and an emission level exceeding that of the EU standards. After completion of the project, it can supply about 9 billion KWH of electricity to Türkiye every year, hence serving as the most stable energy guarantee across the country. According to Musa, smooth operation of the project well reflects the huge potential of cooperation between China and Türkiye under the umbrella of the BRI.

Musa highlighted that under the BRI, Chinese enterprises’ enthusiasm for investment in Türkiye has been running high. And the fields of investment have also expanded to various areas such as infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, among others, with more and more mega cooperation projects to arise. The Kumport Terminal in Türkiye is an important terminal along the Belt and Road. A consortium of Chinese enterprises has acquired 65 percent of its equity, and retained all the Turkish operation teams and employees. With localized management, it accomplished continuous increase of the container throughput as well as the total revenue. At the same time, the high-speed railway linking the Turkish capital Ankara and Istanbul, whose construction involved input from Chinese enterprises, marks the first electrified high-speed railway project that Chinese enterprises have ever undertaken for implementation overseas, and has become a poster child for China's high-speed railway in the world. "Under the the BRI, the two countries enjoy considerable increase in the areas cooperation. I have once experienced the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway which involved the participation of Chinese enterprises, and I felt great. From the project, I saw the efficiency of Chinese enterprises and witnessed the quality behind ‘Manufactured by China’”, Musa said.

A woman plays with a cat on the street in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo provided by the Embassy of Türkiye in China)

Tricks in learning Chinese

With the increasingly closer economic and trade ties, people-to-people exchanges between China and Türkiye are also thriving. “Learning Chinese” becomes a more and more popular choice among the Turkish people. There are many Confucius Institutes in Türkiye, which provide a new window for the Turkish to learn Chinese and learn about Chinese culture. The Turkish students can not only learn Chinese in the institutes, but also discover the charm of the unique Chinese culture, and join the league of cultural exchanges to contribute new momentum and vitality to the development of the bilateral relationship.

Musa has learned some Chinese in the past and will continue to learn in the future. He shared some “tricks” in his learning journey. “It is not easy to learn Chinese well. Yet in my view, it is a pretty interesting experience. Each Chinese character has its own story, and understanding the story behind the characters is very helpful to learn Chinese well,” he said.

“Visiting China” has also been favored by more and more Turkish people. With the launch of more direct flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, flow of people between the two countries also becomes more convenient. Musa believes that in order to truly understand a country, one has to visit the country. “China is beautiful and the Chinese people are super friendly. When you are in China, you can feel its rapid growth in person,” Musa said.

As the China-Türkiye friendship embraces continuous consolidation of the public opinion foundation, people of the two countries are also reaching out to each other with more and more trips in between. On Aug. 10, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice which permitted national travel agencies and online travel companies to restart pilot outbound group tour services and "air ticket + hotel" business for Chinese citizens to relevant countries and regions (third batch). Türkiye was among the destinations on the list. Musa said, "It is of great significance for China to resume the citizens’ group tours to Türkiye, and there will be more achievements to follow, which will not only bring income to the tourism industry, but also promote cultural exchanges between the two countries. We are happy to see more two-way exchanges between Türkiye and China, so that the two countries already with a long history of friendship can take one more step and become even closer.”

Tourists have fun on the coast of Antalya, Turkey. (Photo provided by the Embassy of Türkiye in China)

Real friendship comes after the disaster

The China-Türkiye friendship becomes stronger and closer amidst adversities. The two parties look out for one another and join hands in going forward, well demonstrating what it means by “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. On Feb. 6, 2023, a strong earthquake swept across the Southern Türkiye towards the Syrian border and caused heavy casualties. The Chinese rescue team sent out 21 batches of 308 members who searched and evaluated 87 buildings and inspected a total of more than 700,000 square meters of space, having rescued six people trapped under rubble and retrieved 11 bodies. Against the frequent aftershocks and dust and gravels, the Chinese rescue teams rushed from site to site for detection, dismantling, and rescuing, living out the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind through concrete actions.

Musa happened to be in Türkiye when the earthquake struck. He said that the Chinese rescue team was the first to arrive in the stricken area, racing against time in the ruins to search for every possible sign of life and cautiously take care of the injured. “I am deeply impressed by the work quality and humanitarian spirit of the Chinese rescue team,” he said.

“Thank you so much”, “What you did is what we mean by looking out for one another in a community with a shared future for mankind”, “You are awesome”...The Turkish netizens pour out their gratitude and compliments to the Chinese rescue teams on social media platforms after completion of the rescue. Musa underscored that the Chinese rescue team and the Turks have established a profound friendship at a critical time, and the Turkish people are deeply grateful. This experience has also made it possible for the two countries to explore more cooperation opportunities in emergency management. "As long as we work together with concerted effort, there is a huge area of cooperation in the future."

The Consulate General of Türkiye in Chengdu was inaugurated in June this year, and direct flights between Istanbul and Chengdu were launched at the same time. Musa hoped that these measures would impart and inherit the two countries’ friendship dating back to the time of Silk Road commerce. “We long to deepen cooperation with China in various fields, solidify the deep-rooted bilateral relations on all fronts, and bring people of the two countries to understand each other better and build up closer ties together,” he added.