Growing Bilateral Relations Between Mongolia and Turkey

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Mongolia and the Republic of Turkey. Despite over five decades of diplomatic relations – and the thousands of years of Turkic and Mongol peoples traveling across Eurasia, Central Asia, and the Middle East – the two nations did not fully embrace cooperation until after the post-Cold War era. Today, Mongolia and Turkey aim to expand their deep historical and cultural bond to more active economic, trade, and development relations. 

In June, the Foreign Ministry of Mongolia, the Institute of International Studies under the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Mongolian Association of Turkish Alumni, and the Izmir Katip Çelebi University of Turkey co-organized the “Current Relations of Mongolia-Turkey and Future Trends” conference in Ulaanbaatar. In his opening remarks, Turkey’s Ambassador to Mongolia Zafer Ateş highlighted the two countries’ historical achievements and growing political relations since the 1990s.  

Mongolia and Turkey established official diplomatic relations on June 24, 1969. While their diplomacy remained intact, the bilateral activities were disrupted by Turkey’s involvement in the prolonged Cold War. As a result, Mongolia and Turkey did not officially open embassies until the mid-1990s. By that time, Ulaanbaatar’s foreign policy had already been geared toward expanding political and economic ties with global partners. Mongolia in the ‘90s aimed to enter the new post-Cold War era with more diverse global partners – like Turkey – that could strengthen its newly established multiparty government and market economy.  

In 1996, the Turkish Embassy in Ulaanbaatar was launched and Varol Ozkocak was appointed as ambassador to Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar followed suit in 1997 by opening its embassy in Ankara. The opening of the embassies allowed the two countries’ government agencies to cooperate and strengthen the diplomatic ties that had been idle for so long. 

Importantly, Mongolia’s deepening ties with Turkey paid benefits beyond the bilateral level. The Embassy of Mongolia in Ankara also serves Azerbaijan and Israel. Plus, Mongolia’s relations with Turkey also serve as a bridge to further engage with the members of the Organization of Turkic States (formerly the Turkic Council), a multilateral platform including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. 

By the mid-1990s, Mongolia and Turkey began developing an actionable roadmap for their diplomacy. Intergovernmental parliamentary groups were formed to strengthen political and economic ties between Ulaanbaatar and Ankara. High-level visits between Ulaanbaatar and Ankara created opportunities for political, economic, cultural, and educational relations to flourish. 

In 1995 – 26 years after diplomatic relations were established – Süleyman Demirel became the first Turkish president to visit Mongolia. During Demirel’s official visit, an agreement for air services, an agreement concerning tourism, and a treaty on friendly relations and cooperation were signed. These agreements became a foundation for the two countries’ successful air travel agreements and tourism goals, which would follow decades later. Following Demirel’s visit to Ulaanbaatar in 1998, Mongolia’s then-President Bagabandi Natsag visited Ankara. 

Mongolia and Turkey signed an agreement on trade, economic, and technical cooperation in 1992, followed by multiple defense and security cooperation documents in 1999, 2001, 2012, and 2013. In 2010, Mongolia and Turkey signed an agreement on counterterrorism cooperation.  

Culturally, Mongolia and Turkey enjoy a strong cooperation on archeological research and excavation, capitalizing on the thousands of years of exchanges between Turks and Mongols. Their joint projects have revealed rare archeological evidence that helps explain the medieval civilizations of the Turks, the Mongols, and Uyghurs.  

For example, archeological locations such as the ruins of Hulagu Khan’s summer palace were uncovered in Turkey, and the Turkish monuments were found in Mongolia’s Arkhangai province. The most recent excavation – involving a “square-planned tomb complex measuring 10 meters by 10 meters” – occurred in June 2024 in the Tuul River Basin near Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. The project coordinator from Istanbul University, Kursat Yildirim, stated, “The tomb may belong to the Juanjuan, Gokturk, or Uyghur period.”

Between 2012 and 2014, Mongolia and Turkey made tremendous efforts in air transportation under the 1995 agreement and framework and improved the tourism sector. In 2012, the first direct flight between Mongolia and Turkey took place, which played an important role in the 2014 tourism deal to implement a 30-day visa-free travel agreement to Turkey. 

In 2013, Turkey’s then-Prime Minister (now president) Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid an official visit to Mongolia during Norov Altankhuyag’s term as prime minister. During that visit, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia Ankhbayar Nyamdorj said that Mongolia and Turkey set a goal to increase the trade turnover between the two countries to $100 million in 2013. That was achieved in 2022, when trade reached a total of $110 million.

Seeking to bolster bilateral trade is a recurring theme. According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, between 2016 and 2019, Turkey exported goods worth $121.8 million to Mongolia, whereas Mongolia’s exports fell extremely short, totaling just $11.8 million. In 2021, Ates, the Turkish ambassador to Mongolia, stated, “Our bilateral trade volume which stands at $30-40 million in recent years is far from reflecting the actual potential. We will strive to activate this potential and to lift our commercial relations to a higher level.”

With Turkey’s military experience and capability in mind, Mongolia also secured defense and security relations with Turkey. Under the 1999 agreement, Ankara provides annual grants equal to $1 million to the defense sector of Mongolia via multiple forms. The two countries conduct mutual visits, consultations, cooperation in the defense industry, technical assistance, and training of military personnel within the framework of grants and military financial cooperation. For example, “Since 2000, 79 [Mongolian] officers have graduated from Turkish Land High and Intermediate Academies, specialized schools, and military schools.”

The contemporary bilateral relations between Mongolia and Turkey have expanded to encompass a wide range of cooperation under Mongolia’s 2011 Foreign Policy Concept, which included Ankara as a “third neighbor.” High-level visits in 2015, 2018, and 2019 strengthened Ulaanbaatar-Ankara ties in the ever-changing geopolitical environment. 

In 2018, during Mongolian Speaker of Parliament Enkhbold Miyegombo’s meeting with President Erdogan, Mongolia reaffirmed Turkey as a third neighbor and called for further cooperation with Turkey in Mongolian developing sectors in agriculture, urban planning, roads, and construction. Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) projects also assist Mongolia’s Turkic Muslim population. 

During a 2019 meeting, the speaker of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly Mustafa Sentop emphasized Mongolia’s declaration of Turkey as a third neighbor, and “expressed willingness to bring Mongolia-Turkey relations to the level of Strategic Partnership.” 

As of 2019, Turkey and Mongolia had successfully implemented 661 projects in diverse sectors in Mongolia. In the upcoming years, economic relations and trade will also be an important area to focus on. 

As Mongolia and Turkey celebrate their 55th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties, it’s clear that the two side have made progress – and that implementation of their many agreements has often required some time and effort. However, the consistency of Ulaanbaatar and Ankara’s initiatives helped develop their historical ties into a contemporary international relationship. Within Mongolia’s multi-pillared foreign policy endeavors, Turkey will remain an important partner despite the geographical distance.