The

Kingdom of Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the Republic of Türkiye maintain diplomatic relations. Spain has an embassy in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and a consulate general in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Turkey has an embassy in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and a consulate general in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Turkey and Spain are both members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

, the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermat ...

, the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

, the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

, the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

, and the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

. Spain is also an EU member and Turkey is an EU candidate. Historically known for their imperial and economic rivalry in centuries past, today the two countries enjoy cordial diplomatic relations. There is a well-established community of Turks in Spain, as well as a sizeable number of Spanish or Hispanophone expatriates in Turkey.

History

Ottoman-Spanish relations

During the 16th century,

Habsburg Spain Habsburg Spain refers to Spain and the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy, also known as the Rex Catholicissimus, Catholic Monarchy, in the period from 1516 to 1700 when it was ruled by kings from the House of Habsburg. In t ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

fought for supremacy in the Mediterranean. A highlight was the

battle of Lepanto The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of t ...

, in which the Spanish-led fleet (allied with the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

and the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

) defeated the Ottoman fleet. In North Africa, the Spanish actions against the

Barbary pirates The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...

(Ottoman allies) were not successful for long. The Spanish lost Tunisia to the Ottomans in 1574. During this time, the Ottomans welcomed many

Sephardi Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

and ''

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...

s'' fleeing from religious persecution in Spain, who introduced the Gutenberg press and theater and supported a failed

Morisco ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Mus ...

revolt. The silver brought from

Spanish America Spanish America refers to the Spanish territories in the Americas during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term "Spanish America" was specifically used during the territories' Spanish Empire, imperial era between 15th and 19th centur ...

caused massive inflation in Spain that extended to the rest of Europe and even the Ottoman Empire, being the cause, among others, for the decline of the Turkish Empire in the East. Commercial relations between both empires increased during the second half of the 18th century. After the start of negotiations in 1779 between the Spanish monarchy and the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...

, a Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Commerce was signed in 1782,Turkey´s Political Relations with Spain
Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 25 January 2024. the so-called . While the normalization of relations logically took place after the treaty, a period of certain mutual "indifference" also ensued.

Relations between Spain and the Republic of Turkey

A rapprochement between the Republic of Turkey, led by prime minister

Adnan Menderes Ali Adnan Ertekin Menderes (; 1899 – 17 September 1961) was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of Turkey between 1950 and 1960. He was one of the founders of the Democrat Party (DP) in 1946, the fourth legal opposition party of ...

, and

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

began by the mid-20th century, and both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship in 1959. This strengthening of relations continued in the 1980s, in a favourable context facilitated by circumstances such as the joining of Spain to the

(NATO) in 1982, a military alliance to which Turkey already belonged. Spain lobbied in favour of the entry into force of the

European Union–Turkey Customs Union The European Union–Turkey Customs Union is a trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Turkey. The agreement came into effect on 31 December 1995, following a 6 March 1995 decision of the European Community–Turkey Associatio ...

in 1995. The joint action plan signed between Turkey and Spain, on 22 July 1998, established the framework of the bilateral relations between the two countries. Presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2004, the so-called

Alliance of Civilizations The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is an initiative that attempts to "galvanize international action against extremism" through the forging of international, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and cooperation. The Allia ...

was initiated by Spanish prime minister

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections. O ...

, co-sponsored by the Turkish prime minister

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

. The first formal inter-governmental summit (; RAN; ) took place in April 2009 in Istanbul. Considered one of the main countries that supported the Turkish bid to EU membership, Spain tried to push forward with some advances vis-à-vis the latter during the Spanish

Presidency of the Council of the European Union The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...

in 2010, meeting the outright opposition from EU leaders such as Sarkozy or Merkel. In early 2015, Spain stationed a battery of

Patriot missile The MIM-104 Patriot is a mobile interceptor missile surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives it ...

s near

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

, further extending the length of the deployment afterwards. Spain imposed an arms embargo on Turkey in 2019 due to Turkey's military operation in Syria.

Economic relations

Trade volume between Turkey and Spain was €5.99 billion in 2011.International Trade Centre
/ref> There was a development in the economic field in 2015 with trade at US$8.5 billion. There are more than 610 Spanish firms operating in Turkey. The value of Spanish investments in Turkey is around $10 billion. In 2008, more than 350,000 Spanish tourists visited Turkey.İspanyol turist istikrarlı
/ref> Around 75 Turkish firms operate in Spain. The Turkish investments in Spain reached $143 million in the period of 2002–2015.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Spain has an embassy in

and a consulate-general in

. * Turkey has an embassy in

and a consulate-general in

. File:Consulado de España en Estambul, puerta.jpg, Consulate-General of Spain in Istanbul File:Consulate of Turkey in Barcelona (2017).jpg, Consulate-General of Turkey in Barcelona

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * *

External links

Turkish embassy in Madrid

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Spain

Spain-Turkey Civic Forum. Reinforcing bilateral relations for a common european vision
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spain-Turkey relations Bilateral relations of Turkey

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

History

Ottoman-Spanish relations

Relations between Spain and the Republic of Turkey

Economic relations

Resident diplomatic missions

See also

References

External links