The United Kingdom (UK) was one of the first countries with which the Ottoman Empire established regular diplomatic relations. The first Ambassador appointed by the UK to the Ottoman Empire, William Harborne, assumed his duties in Istanbul in 1583 and Yusuf Agah Efendi appointed as the Ottoman Ambassador to London in 1793.

The “2010 Strategic Partnership Document”, which was revised and signed during the then Prime Minister Cameron’s visit to Türkiye in 26-26 July 2010, constitutes a road map laying out a wide range of concrete areas of cooperation to further strengthen the existing cooperation between two countries.

Turkish-British “Tatlıdil Forum” comprised of politicians, academicians, media representatives and artists from both sides was established in order to strengthen and institutionalize the dialogue between the two countries. The 7th and the last meeting was held in Reading between 11-13 May 2018. A date for the 8th “Tatlıdil” meeting is yet to be set.

According to 2023 data, the United Kingdom is the fourth country to which we export the most. The 2023 bilateral trade volume reached 19.5 billion USD.

In 2023, the number of tourists coming to Türkiye from the United Kingdom reached almost 4 million.