China steps up 'propaganda blitz' in Turkey amid investment fallout

The Chinese government has substantially stepped up its public relations activities in Turkey following the damage to its image caused by the collapse of manufacturer BYD’s planned investment in the country.

The Chinese electric vehicle company in June said they had paused work on a plant in Turkey while prioritising production in Europe.

BYD’s apparent change of course was a major embarrassment for the Turkish government. To attract the company, Ankara granted generous tax breaks on BYD vehicle sales in Turkey even before construction of the plant had begun.

Thanks to those incentives, combined with a new commercial strategy, BYD’s sales in Turkey surged to more than 45,000 vehicles in 2025.

Experts estimate that the company may already have earned between $500m and $1bn in additional profits from the Turkish market as a result of those tax advantages.

“The collapse of the BYD deal put China’s image in Turkey in a precarious position,” one Turkish government consultant told Middle East Eye. “They are now engaged in a propaganda blitz to turn the tide.”

The consultant said Ankara had grown tired of Chinese negotiating tactics, which he described as creating the impression that an agreement had been reached, only for Beijing to reopen negotiations later with an expanding list of demands.

The public relations campaign has been apparent to those who closely follow China’s activities in Turkey.

The Chinese embassy in Ankara has been placing unsigned propaganda articles in pro-government media outlets, highlighting the importance of high-level engagement between the Chinese Communist Party and Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The embassy has also promoted the launch of Volume Five of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China across government-aligned media.

Propaganda blitz

Nurettin Akcay, an academic specialising in Chinese affairs, said the BYD crisis had undoubtedly contributed to negative sentiment towards China in Turkey.

“Although there has recently been a significant quantitative increase in China’s public diplomacy activities in Turkey, such efforts have actually been under way for a long time,” he told MEE.

“Even before the BYD issue erupted, the Chinese were inviting journalists and other individuals regarded as opinion leaders in Turkey to visit China.”

Turkey and China have had an uneasy relationship over the past decade, largely because of the Uyghur issue. Until 2020, Ankara sought to minimise Turkish media coverage of the suffering of Uyghurs in the hope of securing Chinese investment.

'China is seeking to minimise domestic criticism within Turkey by pursuing a broad engagement strategy'

Nurettin Akcay, academic and Chinese affairs specialist

At Beijing’s request, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited the Uyghur-majority Xinjiang Autonomous Region in June 2024 in an attempt to remove one of the main obstacles to bilateral relations.

However, promised investments in electric vehicle plants by BYD and Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery have yet to materialise, despite lengthy negotiations since the visit.

Akcay’s social media posts tracking Chinese lobbying efforts in Turkey have also placed him under scrutiny in China, where he completed his PhD at Shanghai University.

In a separate post on X, Akcay said Shanghai University had emailed him to say it had received numerous complaints about his critical reporting on China.

“For this reason, they asked me to stop referring to the fact that I completed my PhD at Shanghai University,” he said.

“Additionally, as far as I understand, the doors to China are closing on me for good. I don’t know if they will ever let me back into China.”

Akcay said China was focusing on what he calls “elite engagement”, which includes inviting prominent figures to the country as part of a form of showcase diplomacy that presents a carefully curated image of China.

Last month, the Turkey-China Friendship Foundation, a Chinese state-funded entity, organised an eight-day press junket for Turkish journalists working for opposition media outlets. They were taken to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to a large Uyghur population.

None of the journalists, who were affiliated with T24, Halk TV, Cumhuriyet, Haberturk TV and several independent outlets, reported on allegations of mistreatment of Uyghurs. Instead, they focused on “terrorist” attacks carried out by radicals in the region and on China’s integration efforts.

The Turkish reports used similar language, with some repeating the same concepts almost verbatim. They highlighted the region’s importance to China’s industrial revival and the Belt and Road Initiative, while presenting tourism as an increasingly important part of Xinjiang’s development plans.

No accountability

Human Rights Watch said in its 2026 report that Chinese authorities had tightened ideological controls over the previous year while continuing the harsh, forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uyghurs.

“There has been no accountability for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where several hundred thousand Uyghurs remain unjustly imprisoned,” the report said.

Since 2017, China has placed hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in “re-education camps”, demolished mosques and Islamic cemeteries, and banned religious education.

“Everything is planned, and China gets precisely what it wants because visitors are shown only what they are intended to see,” Akcay said.

“Consequently, journalists who visit China encounter a positive picture without fully understanding the broader context.”

China’s recent attempts to influence Turkish public opinion have also included outreach to opposition parties, such as the Islamist-conservative New Welfare Party and the Turkish nationalist Victory Party.

A delegation from the New Welfare Party visited China in June, while Chinese Ambassador Jiang Xuebin met the party’s chairman, Fatih Erbakan, last month.

Akcay said China had begun cultivating good relations with virtually all of Turkey’s opposition parties.

“I believe the Uyghur issue is once again a major factor behind China’s interest in Turkish opposition parties of all sizes,” he said.

He added that right-wing opposition parties in Turkey could speak relatively freely about the Uyghur issue because it appealed to their voter bases.

“China is seeking to minimise domestic criticism within Turkey - or at least prevent such criticism from developing into radical campaigns - by pursuing a broad engagement strategy,” he said.

“Is China successful? In my view, at least partially, yes. It may not completely transform public perceptions, but it is pursuing an effective strategy to prevent the emergence of a radical counter-campaign.”