The Chinese government has significantly ramped up its public relations activities in Turkey amid reputational damage caused by the cancellation of investment plans by the manufacturer BYD.
The Chinese government has significantly ramped up its public relations activities in Turkey amid reputational damage caused by the cancellation of investment plans by the manufacturer BYD.
In June, the Chinese electric vehicle company announced the suspension of work on a factory in Turkey, redirecting priorities to production in Europe. This sharp turn by BYD was a serious humiliation for the Turkish government.
To attract the company, Ankara offered generous tax incentives for the sale of BYD vehicles in Turkey even before the factory construction began. Thanks to these incentives and a new commercial strategy, BYD sales in Turkey sharply increased, exceeding 45,000 units in 2025. Experts believe that due to the tax advantages, the company could have gained an additional profit from the Turkish market ranging from $500 million to $1 billion.
A Turkish government consultant told Middle East Eye that 'the collapse of the BYD deal put China's image in Turkey in a precarious position,' adding that China is now conducting a 'propaganda offensive to change the situation.'
The consultant also noted that Ankara is tired of China's negotiation tactics, which he described as creating the appearance of reaching an agreement, only for Beijing to resume negotiations with an expanded list of demands. This public relations campaign is evident to anyone closely monitoring China's activities in Turkey.
The Chinese Embassy in Ankara places unpublished propaganda articles in pro-government media, emphasizing the importance of high-level interaction between the Communist Party of China and the ruling Turkish party, the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Furthermore, the embassy promotes the release of the fifth volume of Xi Jinping's book, 'Governing China,' through government-loyal media.
Nurettin Akçay, a scholar specializing in Chinese affairs, stated that the crisis surrounding BYD undoubtedly contributed to negative sentiment towards China in Turkey. He specified that while there has been a significant quantitative increase in China's diplomatic efforts in Turkey recently, such efforts have been underway for a long time. Even before the BYD issue arose, Chinese representatives invited journalists and other opinion leaders in Turkey to visit China.
Relations between Turkey and China have remained tense over the past decade, largely due to the Uyghur issue. Before 2020, Ankara sought to minimize coverage of Uyghur suffering in Turkish media in hopes of securing Chinese investment. Akçay believes that 'China is trying to minimize domestic criticism in Turkey by using a broad engagement strategy.'
At the request of Beijing, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visited the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where most Uyghurs reside, in June 2024, attempting to resolve one of the main obstacles to bilateral relations. However, the promised investments in electric vehicle factories from BYD and the Chinese automaker Chery were never realized, despite lengthy negotiations following this visit.
Akçay's social media, where he tracks China's lobbying efforts in Turkey, has also drawn attention in China, where he received his doctorate from Shanghai University. In a separate post on X, Akçay reported that Shanghai University had sent him an email with numerous complaints regarding his critical reporting on China. He added that because of this, he was asked to stop mentioning his doctoral degree from Shanghai University, and that, as far as he understands, the doors to China are closed to him forever.
Akçay noted that China is focused on what it calls 'elite engagement,' which includes inviting prominent figures to the country as part of demonstration diplomacy presenting a carefully curated image of China. Last month, the China-Turkey Friendship Foundation, a state institution of China, organized an eight-day press tour for Turkish journalists working in opposition media. They were taken to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, home to a large Uyghur population. None of these journalists, affiliated with T24, Halk TV, Cumhuriyet, Haberturk TV, and several independent publications, reported on alleged mistreatment of Uyghurs; instead, they focused on attacks by 'terrorists' carried out by radicals in the region and on China's integration efforts.
Turkish reports used similar vocabulary, with some repeating the same concepts almost verbatim. They emphasized the region's importance for China's industrial revival and the 'Belt and Road' initiative, portraying tourism as an increasingly vital part of Xinjiang's development plans.
Human Rights Watch, in its 2026 report, stated that Chinese authorities intensified ideological control over the previous year, continuing harsh forced assimilation of Tibetans and Uyghurs. The report noted: 'There was no accountability for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain unjustly imprisoned.'
Since 2017, China has placed hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs in 're-education camps,' destroyed mosques and Islamic cemeteries, and banned religious education. Akçay argues: 'Everything is planned, and China gets exactly what it wants because visitors are only shown what they are meant to see.' Consequently, journalists visiting China see a positive picture without understanding the broader context.
Recent attempts by China to influence public opinion in Turkey also included working with opposition parties, such as the Islamist-conservative New Dawn Party and the Turkish nationalist Victory Party. A delegation from the New Dawn Party visited China in June, and the Chinese ambassador Jian Xuebin met with the chairman of this party, Fatih Erbakan, last month. Akçay believes that China has begun building good relations with almost all opposition parties in Turkey. He posits that 'the Uyghur issue is once again an important factor in China's interest in opposition parties of any size in Turkey.'
He added that right-wing opposition parties in Turkey can speak relatively freely about the Uyghur issue because it attracts their electorate. Akçay concludes: 'China seeks to minimize domestic criticism in Turkey—or at least prevent the emergence of such criticism in radical campaigns—by implementing a broad engagement strategy.' In his view, China is succeeding, at least partially, by implementing an effective strategy to prevent the emergence of a radical counter-campaign.
Convex has raised $57 million in a Series B funding round. These funds are planned to be used to scale the development of its backend platform, which is specifically designed for artificial intelligence. The financing was led by Insight Partners, with participation from Etna Labs and all previous investors, including a16z and Spark Capital.
Thanks to this Series B round, Convex's total raised capital has reached $110.5 million. The company stated that it intends to use this money to improve its core platform, enhance tools for agentic development, and increase its staff in its San Francisco office.
Founded in 2021 by former Dropbox infrastructure engineers, Convex offers developers a fully integrated backend platform. This platform combines databases, functions, workflows, search, synchronization, authentication, and file storage into a single solution built for software development.
The fundraising comes amid the trend towards AI-powered coding and autonomous development tools. Convex believes that developers need infrastructure capable of handling the increasing complexity of applications while maintaining a high level of reliability.
The company posits that traditional backend infrastructure struggles to support the growing use of AI coding agents. According to the company, AI-generated applications based on standard databases can subtly introduce data errors that only manifest after deployment.
Internal testing revealed that 90% of AI-built applications running on traditional databases encountered data corruption in real-world operating conditions. In comparison, applications developed on the Convex platform passed the same tests without any failures.
Convex's backend includes built-in ACID transactions, end-to-end type checking, real-time subscriptions, and TypeScript support. These features reduce the need for manual integration of multiple services for developers and increase application reliability. Furthermore, Convex packages search capabilities, workflow automation, authentication, file storage, and retrieval-augmented generation functions, allowing AI applications to be enriched with organization-specific knowledge.
The platform has gained significant traction among developers building AI-based software. Convex currently supports nearly two million applications created by about 500,000 developers worldwide. The company also reported over 1.2 million weekly downloads from npm.
Convex's clients include OpenAI, Tripadvisor, Solana, Zapier, and Reducto. These organizations use Convex to simplify backend development while ensuring scalable, reliable performance for their applications.
Insight Partners noted that the growing adoption of AI coding assistants has exposed weaknesses in traditional software infrastructure. The investment firm believes that Convex provides developers with a more robust foundation where backend components function cohesively without the need for complex configuration.
Convex plans to use the new funding to accelerate product innovations amidst the transformation of software engineering influenced by AI. The company will direct funds toward creating new tools that simplify application development for both developers and AI agents that build software.
The company will continue to provide highly reliable backend products supporting increasingly complex AI-based applications globally. Convex is convinced that stable backend infrastructure is becoming critically important as artificial intelligence generates large volumes of application code.
Instead of combining disparate components, Convex offers a single unified platform, which effectively reduces complexity and prevents software bugs. The raised funds will strengthen Convex's engineering team and significantly expand its global developer ecosystem and platform capabilities. With fresh capital and a growing customer base, Convex aims to solidify its position in the evolving AI development infrastructure market, making the creation of reliable software faster and easier for both human developers and AI agents.
Delightree, a company that develops an artificial intelligence-based operating system for industries with multiple points of sale (such as franchises), has raised $25 million in funding. These funds will be used to accelerate the growth of the company's team in engineering, product development, and general operations.
The investment round was led by Accel, with support from existing investors Emergent, Timber Grove Ventures, and Innovius. The Denver-based company plans to use the new capital influx to expand its AI platform and enter new vertical markets, including restaurants, fitness, wellness, retail, healthcare, and home services.
The Delightree platform integrates processes such as training, compliance, communication, audits, and new location launches. This ensures greater consistency between the central team's work across all on-site operations and uniform execution of tasks throughout the network of businesses.
Franchise businesses are actively implementing artificial intelligence to assist in various aspects of their operations, many of which rely on it to consolidate disparate processes such as training, communication, compliance, and reporting.
Since its launch just over two years ago, the Delightree platform has demonstrated rapid demand growth globally. The company reported that revenue has increased nearly twentyfold during this period, indicating a high level of product adoption by customers and overall growth.
Currently, the company's software is used in over 6,000 locations across the United States. Delightree's clients include solidcore, Dunn Brothers Coffee, JETSET, Five Star Franchising, MOOYAH Burgers, and Beem Light Sauna.
The platform replaces numerous individual systems with a single operational layer. Businesses use it to manage employee training, operational standards, communications, checks, regulatory compliance, and new site openings.
Delightree will continue to strengthen its capabilities in artificial intelligence for business automation platforms and operational management on a global scale. Future AI assistants will be able to automatically identify issues, assign tasks, track progress, and suggest improvements in operations everywhere.
The new funding will support further investments in product innovation and artificial intelligence. Delightree intends to develop new features that reduce operational complexity for growing franchise businesses. The company believes that AI can help operators open new locations faster while reducing administrative burden.
According to Delightree, clients using the platform can open locations two to three months earlier than when using traditional methods, meaning a reduction in launch times of more than 25%. Furthermore, businesses report that on-site employees free up up to 30% of their working time thanks to workflow automation and centralized operations.
Co-founder Madhulika Mukherji stated that the company's long-term goal is to provide small franchise operators access to complex operational technologies that were previously only available to large corporate chains.
The company sees significant growth opportunities in industries where millions of people work on-site. Its platform is designed to simplify the management of multi-branch businesses while increasing operational transparency.
Delightree is convinced that artificial intelligence can transform growth without the need to add additional layers of management in distributed companies. Artificial intelligence automates back-office operations while maintaining uniformity of operational standards across all business locations.
Delightree aims to strengthen partnerships with franchise brands striving for standardized operations in fast-growing global networks. The platform combines AI-based automation with workflows, significantly reducing management complexity and improving location consistency.
The company plans to use the funds to add AI-powered operational analytics for franchise owners, managers, and on-site employees. Delightree's goal is to become the operating system for multi-location enterprises implementing faster, smarter, and more efficient automation methods globally.
Criminals managed to withdraw approximately $130 million in cryptocurrencies from holders of the Coldcard physical wallet, manufactured by Coinkite. This theft occurred after hackers exploited a flaw in the device's recovery phrase generation mechanism.
The incident was detected by several blockchain security companies that monitor transactions. The attack, which came to light on Tuesday (04), affected people who used wallets considered extremely secure for storing Bitcoin, since these remain isolated from internet connection.
Investigators indicate that the intruders were able to recreate the private keys without needing physical access to the devices. The analysis points out that multiple groups may be involved in these intrusions, taking advantage of an existing vulnerability in the code used to create the recovery keys. This discovery allowed the intruders to calculate possible combinations and consequently transfer the assets stored in the compromised wallets.
The Coldcard functions as a hardware wallet designed to keep the user's secret key away from the network. In this model, although Bitcoins remain registered on the blockchain, access to the funds depends on a recovery key stored on the device itself. This system is classified as a 'cold' wallet, as opposed to 'hot' wallets, which are connected to the network via apps, browser extensions, or cryptocurrency trading platforms.
According to Galaxy Research, it is estimated that at least 12 distinct attackers are targeting users of these devices. The company reported that the total accumulated damage reached about $130 million, a figure that Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist at Elliptic, considers close to reality.
This event is notable because the main guarantee of a physical wallet is precisely to provide an extra layer of protection. Users who kept their keys offline and followed rigorous security protocols were victimized because the problem resided in the initial phase of creating these keys.
Block researchers identified that the flaw was linked to the method used to generate these keys in certain versions of the equipment. Thus, criminals did not need to hack the devices or obtain protected information; they simply replicated the key creation process.
Jonathan Goodman, a user who reported losing $1.6 million, described the situation as unacceptable, given that all security recommendations had been followed. In a post on the social network X, he clarified that he never shared his key and kept the devices disconnected from the internet. According to Goodman, the implemented safeguards did not prevent the loss because the origin of the problem was in the code responsible for generating the recovery keys.
Coinkite, the manufacturer of the Coldcard, issued a warning about the issue and advised customers to update their devices. The company also suggested that affected users move their funds to a new key.
