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Diplomatic relations at the legation level were established in 1960 and then to the rank of ambassador in 1958. Turkey opened an embassy in Lagos, then capital of Nigeria in 1962. Turkish embassy moved to Abuja in 2001 after Nigeria's proclamation of Abuja as the new capital. Nigeria has an embassy in Ankara.

Nigeria and Turkey cooperate through their membership to OIC and D-8.^[1]

Diplomatic relations

Turkey and Nigeria were pro-Western on most issues but Nigeria mainly sided with the Arab World^[2] against Israel,^[2] which was Turkey's closest ally in the Middle East at the time.

Until Nigerian Civil War, Nigeria and Turkey had very strong relations. This strong relationship became much weaker after the coup and Nigerian Civil War^[3] when Turkey took a position of neutrality^[3] in Nigerian Civil War and refused ^[3]to sell arms to the federation. The relationship improved in the early 1990s through close cooperation in foreign policy.^[4]

The two countries cooperated during the Gulf crisis that began with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the summer of 1990.^[4] Both countries kept a low profile by being an active supporter of UN policy and declining to send troops to engage in the Persian Gulf.^[4]

Presidential visits

Guest	Host	Place of visit	Date of visit
President Abdullah Gül	President Goodluck Jonathan	D-8 Summit, Abuja	July 2010^[1]
President Goodluck Jonathan	President Abdullah Gül	Çankaya Köşkü, Ankara	February 2011^[1]
President Goodluck Jonathan	President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Çankaya Köşkü, Ankara	January 8, 2015^[1]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	President Muhammadu Buhari	Aso Villa, Abuja	March 1-3, 2016^[1]
President Muhammadu Buhari	President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan	Presidential Complex, Ankara	October 19, 2017^[1]

Economic relations

Trade volume between the two countries was US$726 million in 2019.^[1]
There are direct flights from Istanbul to Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port-Harcourt.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Relations between Turkey and Nigeria". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey.
^ ^a ^b Akindele, R.A. "Nigeria's External Relations, 1960- 1985," Pt. 1. Afrika Spectrum [Hamburg], 1, 1986, pp. 5-34.
^ ^a ^b ^c de St. Jorre, John. The Nigerian Civil War. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1972.
^ ^a ^b ^c Akindele, R.A., and Bassey E. Ate. "Nigeria's Foreign Policy, 1986-2000 A.D.: Background and Reflections on the Views from Kuru," Afrika Spectrum [Hamburg], 3, 21, 2016, pp. 363-70.