Turkey and China held a photo exhibition Thursday in the Turkish capital of Ankara to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the week-long exhibition, Mehmet Saglam, deputy speaker of the Turkish parliament, said that the exhibition only highlights the fast developing relationship in the past 40 years, while the Turkish-Chinese ties actually dated back to more than 1,000 years ago.

"With the connection of the old silk road, Turkey and China became neighbors with each other. In our culture, neighborhood is very important. Therefore, we should work harder to carry this close relationship further ahead in the coming 1,000 years on political, cultural and economical sectors," Saglam said.

Noting that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay a official visit to China soon, Saglam said that "I am sure this visit will improve the bilateral relations between Turkey and China."

Meanwhile, Chinese Ambassador to Turkey Gong Xiaosheng said that in the past 40 years, the Chinese-Turkish friendly relationship has grown faster than the past two millennium in all fields, especially on trade.

"Trade volume between China and Turkey touched 25 billion U.S. dollars in 2011. Over 100,000 Chinese people visited Turkey last year. I believe the mutual launch of culture years will push our friendship further forward," said Gong.

Hosting culture years for each other was part of the consensus reached by Chinese and Turkish leaders on Oct. 8, 2010, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid an official visit to Turkey.

Under the agreement, Turkey is hosting the China Culture Year in 2012, and China will host the Turkey Culture Year in 2013.