Turkish, Chinese foreign ministers meet in Ankara

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has met with China's newly appointed Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the capital Ankara for talks.

The visit came a day after Wang assumed the post as China removed his predecessor Qin Gang, who was not seen in public for one month.

Foreign Ministers Fidan and Wang discussed bilateral relations during the meeting. Regional and global developments were also on the agenda.

"The utilisation of dialogue and consultation mechanisms between the two countries, intensification of economic and trade relations, harmonisation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Middle Corridor initiatives were among the topics during the two foreign ministers’ meeting,” a diplomatic source told TRT World. “They also discussed nuclear energy, agriculture, civil aviation, culture, and tourism matters,” the source said.

During the visit, the situation of Uighur Turks was also discussed.

China's practices in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Violations against the identity and culture of Uyghur Turks in China have been criticized by the international community in recent years.

Many Uyghur Turks are kept against their will in places that Beijing calls "vocational training centers" and the international community defines as "re-education camps".

Beijing does not provide information on how many camps there are in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, how many people there are and how many have returned to social life.

While the UN and other international organizations have reiterated their calls for the camps to be opened for scrutiny, China has so far allowed a few of the camps it designated itself to be partially viewed by a small number of foreign diplomats and journalists.

Chinese authorities are refusing UN officials' requests to freely invest igate the region for direct information.

Later on the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to receive Foreign Minister Wang at the presidential complex in Ankara.

Wang’s trip was planned before his re-appointment as foreign minister. He also serves as director of the office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee.

Chinese officials announced last week that Wang would travel to Türkiye as part of a tour including Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa following the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg.

Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and China were established in 1971. Bilateral relations were elevated to the level of "strategic cooperation" in 2010.