Turkey and Latin America

Turkey's relations with Latin America have made great leaps over the last decade. Until a few years ago, there were only a handful of Turkish embassies in Latin America. Today, Turkey has diplomatic missions in nine Latin American capitals. Turkey's total trade with the continent was about $1 billion in 2000. By the end of 2014 that figure reached $10 billion. Political and diplomatic relations, trade volume, tourism and cultural and economic relations are growing by the day.

Turkey's relations with the continent go back to the 19th century when various communities of the Ottoman Empire migrated to a number of Latin American countries. Since they had Ottoman passports, they came to be known as "El Turco."

Seeking to improve relations, the Turkish Foreign Ministry conducted its first comprehensive study in 1998. This was followed by announcement of 2006 as the Year of Latin America and the Caribbean. The new road map resulted in numerous activities and the opening of new embassies. High-level visits gave new momentum to the relations. Parliamentary friendship groups were established. Ankara University opened a center of Latin American studies. The center organized a two-day conference on World War I where President Erdoğan gave the keynote address. This important academic event addressed the events of 1915 from a fair historical point of view and provided scholarly responses to the controversial claims of Armenian genocide.

President Erdoğan's three-country trip to Colombia, Cuba and Mexico underlines the importance Turkey attaches to this part of the world. Turkey's trade volume with Colombia was at a negligible level until recently. Today, it is reaching $1.5 billion. The Turkish aid agency TİKA is completing several projects and a growing number of students from Columbia are granted Turkey Scholarships to study in Turkish universities.
Erdoğan is the first head of state to visit Cuba after the Americans and Cubans announced a new period of rapprochement on Dec. 17, 2014. Six decades of political tension, economic embargo and policy of containment may come to an end under Presidents Obama and Raul Castro.

Listening to Raul Castro, the current president of Cuba and the younger brother of Fidel Castro, one wonders if history as lived by real people ever dies. At the age of 84, Raul Castro was as dynamic and excited as he probably was 60 years ago. His account of the history of the Cuban revolution provides a perspective radically different from any standard history. Living under the heavy presence of the U.S. as a hostile neighbor, the Cubans have come to learn how to live their lives while responding to the challenges of being a small country with a super-power rival 90 miles north of it.

Turkey enters the picture in this new era. The current political, economic and cultural relations between Turkey and Cuba are limited at the moment. But this is likely to change soon as Turkish Airlines prepares to fly to Havana and Turkish business community explores various possibilities in Cuba. Raul Castro may visit Turkey this year. The small but thriving Cuban Muslim community is already making important contacts in Turkey as it works with the Turkish Diyanet to provide religious services in Cuba and train the new converts.

Moving to Mexico, Turkey has already a trade volume of 1.4 billion USD with that country. The two presidents set the goal of 5 billion USD trade by the year 2023. 2017 will be the 90th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 2017 or 2018 would be celebrated as 'culture year' in both countries to celebrate the rich cultural traditions each country has. There is already a plan to make an important exhibition of the Maya culture in Istanbul. An exhibition of Turkish culture will be made available in Mexico this year. As president of G20, Turkey will host Mexican President in November together with other G-20 leaders.

Turkey's economic growth, global trade perspective and soft power capacity are its best assets for the expansion and deepening of Turkey's relations with Latin America. Already at home with new economic opportunities and cultural diversity, Turkey is exploring different possibilities to have stronger bilateral relations and regional cooperation.

Turkey's opening to Latin America, just like its opening to Africa, is part of the expansion of Turkey's foreign policy outlook. Those who see the world through the lenses of a Euro-centric world-system are likely to fail to understand the future implications of this new perspective. Some even go so far as to see African and Latin American openings as diversions or 'moving away' from the West. One wonders what meaning such analyses have in a world of growing interdependencies and new geo-political opportunities.

Looking at the world from Asia, Africa or Latin America, one readily sees more than Europe and the US and appreciates how a truly global and cosmopolitan perspective on the world can open up new opportunities for a better world. This is not a call to replace one ethno-centrism with another. Nor is it anti-Westernism in a crude sense of the term. Rather, this is an invitation to see the world from multiple perspectives and strive for an order in which rich and poor, big and small, powerful and weak nations are granted their rights without any prejudice.