Relationship dossier
Turkey
Belgium
Relationship assessment
Practical bilateral cooperation alongside recurring political and legal disagreements
Turkey toward Belgium
+5Turkey participates in NATO cooperation with Belgium and maintains bilateral social-security and tax arrangements. Turkish officials have also criticized Belgian restrictions on Turkish referendum campaigning and Belgian legal decisions concerning PKK-related activity.
Belgium toward Turkey
+5Belgium participates in NATO cooperation with Turkey and maintains bilateral social-security and tax arrangements. Belgian authorities restricted Turkish referendum campaigning in 2017, and Belgian courts issued decisions on the application of terrorism law to PKK-related activity that drew criticism from Turkey.
Overall relationship
+5The relationship has durable practical foundations in bilateral social-security and tax arrangements and NATO cooperation, but political and legal disputes have periodically strained ties. Neither the cooperative arrangements nor the disagreements alone define the relationship.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Turkey and Belgium maintain bilateral social-security and tax arrangements, alongside cooperation within NATO. Relations have also faced political and legal friction, notably over Turkish referendum campaigning in Belgium and Belgian court decisions concerning prosecution of PKK-related activity. The relationship combines practical cooperation with recurring disagreements.
Areas of tension
- Turkish objections to Belgian legal decisions concerning the prosecution of PKK-related activity.
- Disagreement over restrictions on Turkish officials campaigning in Belgium during Turkey's 2017 referendum period.
Key developments
Turkey and Belgium concluded a bilateral social-security agreement.
Turkey and Belgium concluded a bilateral agreement on avoidance of double taxation.
Belgian authorities restricted campaigning by Turkish officials during Turkey's 2017 referendum period, prompting criticism from Turkey.
Belgian court decisions on applying terrorism law to PKK-related activity drew criticism from Turkey.
Major uncertainties
- The current scope and implementation of bilateral cooperation beyond the social-security and tax arrangements are unclear.
- The extent of ongoing government-level cooperation on counterterrorism and judicial matters is unclear.