The relationship between South Korea and Türkiye has always carried a weight far deeper than conventional diplomacy. From the earliest encounters 1,500 years ago – when the Göktürk Khaganate supported the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo – to the defining moment of the Korean War, where Turkish troops fought and died for a distant nation they had never seen, the two countries have repeatedly rediscovered each other across geography and time.
Yet despite the emotional closeness and the rhetoric of “blood brotherhood,” something paradoxical lingered beneath the surface: high-level political engagement never quite matched the depth of the sentiment. Korea had not sent a president to Türkiye since 2012. A scheduled visit in 2020 was canceled due to COVID-19. More than 10 years passed without a Korean head of state setting foot in Ankara, a silence that felt strangely at odds with the countries’ proclaimed bond.
This is why President Lee Jae-myung’s 2025 state visit was more than a diplomatic courtesy; it was the closing of a long and uncomfortable gap.
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