ALMATY, April 26 (RIA Novosti) – Turkey was granted dialogue partner status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Friday.
The status memorandum was signed by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and SCO General Secretary Dmitry Mezentsev.
Founded in 2001, the Beijing-based SCO comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The security organization consolidates efforts to counter terrorism and radicalization in member countries, and also works on other policy areas such as politics and trade.
Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status, while Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey are classed as dialogue partners.
