Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin paid an official visit to Türkiye at the start of 2025 to make a groundbreaking diplomatic outreach as she was the first top-ranked diplomat from Europe to meet her Turkish counterparts that year.
The visit highlighted the increasing need for Belgium and Türkiye to strengthen their bilateral relations in this and many other areas of mutual interest. The visit focused on the main aspects of cooperation, such as the Turkish EU accession process, trade and political partnerships with the EU, and more geopolitics in Europe. Therefore, the two nations explored possible ways to deal with burning concerns such as migration and climate change. Bernard Quintin’s visit was made at a time when the European Union had begun to seek to enhance cooperation with Türkiye, which is a strategic ally in both the two continents and internationally. Some experts speculated that the visit could suggest that the EU and Turkey would now boost efforts to solve problems that have strained their relations in the recent past, including matters to do with human rights and democratisation. The authorities of Belgium saw Türkiye as a strategic partner in stabilising the region and ensuring its safety because of existing armed conflicts in the Middle East.
What does Bernard Quintin’s visit mean for both countries?
Bernard Quintin’s visit could be seen as setting the prospects for a new round of European diplomatic activism in Türkiye, following the tensions and relative distancing that characterised the relations in the past years. The visit was perceived as a logical move to help promote the Brussels- Ankara relations with the intention of strengthening cooperation in light of promoting common agendas during the shift that is being experienced in the international political system. Both parties noted the need for follow-up cooperation in a vast array of sectors and with an aspiration to plan increasing summit meetings and diplomacy over 2025.
