On 7 June 2021, SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov had a meeting with Abdulkadir Emin Onen, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey to the People's Republic of China.
At the onset of the event, Vladimir Norov noted how important it is to expand cooperation between the SCO Secretariat and the Embassy of Turkey, an SCO dialogue partner. The SCO Secretary-General enumerated all the opportunities provided by the road map created for increasing the SCO's collaboration with observers and dialogue partners that was passed in 2019. He also updated the Turkish delegation on the Organisation's 20th anniversary celebrations due to take place later on in the year.
The Ambassador of Turkey noted the Embassy's intention to continue taking an active part in the activities of the SCO, including when it comes to the organisation of cultural events at the SCO Secretariat. In this context, the Ambassador praised the organisation of the literary soiree, Nizami Ganjavi, a Poet for All Humanity given by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to China together with the SCO Secretariat.
In conclusion, Vladimir Norov noted that the holding of these events showed how to use the potentials of observer states and SCO dialogue partners for becoming more actively involved in the Organisation's work and how to strengthen cooperation with SCO member states.
On 26 April 2013, the Republic of Turkey received dialogue partner status with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.