A busy schedule awaits President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in April and the coming months. The Turkish leader, whose schedule was confined to visiting Turkish cities ahead of the March 31 elections, will host heads of state and travel to several countries, from Iraq to the United States, for his shuttle diplomacy on regional and international matters.
Erdoğan’s visits will invariably focus on the peace diplomacy Türkiye pursues, especially to end the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives since last October.
The president will return to his weekly routine this week after spending weeks on the campaign trail for the municipal elections. He is expected to address Parliament for the first time in weeks for his weekly speech to his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) members and will chair a Cabinet meeting.
On April 22, the president will make his first visit in 12 years to neighboring Iraq. The meeting will be a “turning point,” according to political pundits, as it comes at a time of a possible Turkish cross-border operation against the terrorist group PKK holed up in northern Iraq. On May 9, he is scheduled to travel to the U.S. to meet President Joe Biden.
Prior to these visits, he will host Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on April 18. On April 24, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will visit Türkiye, the first visit by a German president in a decade.
The president is also expected to host Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, though the exact dates of those visits have not been confirmed yet.
Critical visit to Iraq
Erdoğan’s Iraq visit is significant in terms of Türkiye’s efforts to improve relations, particularly on counterterrorism and development projects.
Erdoğan was prime minister when he last traveled to Baghdad in 2012. Türkiye’s defense minister, foreign minister and intelligence chief recently visited Iraq for a preparatory meeting ahead of Erdoğan’s visit. The PKK’s leadership hides out in Iraq’s north and Ankara was disappointed over the lack of cooperation from Baghdad in the fight against the PKK in the past. Yet, the visit of ministers amid an atmosphere of improved cooperation is viewed as a sharp turn in Iraq’s policy toward the PKK. Erdoğan recently signaled a cross-border military offensive in Iraq this summer to wipe out the terrorists.
Another topic in Erdoğan’s Iraq visit will be the Development Road, a $17 billion (TL 548 billion) project pitched as a link between Asia and Europe. It aims to tie a major commodities port in Iraq’s oil-rich south to the border with Türkiye and, from there, to Europe through a network of railways and highways. Türkiye already had a major share in construction and development projects in its southeastern neighbor in the postwar period.
The Development Road, unveiled in May, will facilitate the movement of energy resources, goods and passengers from the Gulf to Europe through the port in Iraq’s Basra.
German president’s visit
Steinmeier will be an important guest of Erdoğan as Türkiye strives to keep ties growing despite obstacles.
Germany is one of the largest trade partners of Türkiye. In 2022, bilateral trade reached a record high of 51.6 billion euros ($55.56 billion). Almost 8,000 German companies and Turkish companies with German equity participation are active in Türkiye.
The European country also delivered massive aid to Türkiye in the wake of the February 2023 earthquakes.
On defense, Türkiye relies on Germany to approve its acquisition of Eurofighter jets. In November, Türkiye said the country was in talks with Britain and Spain to buy Typhoons, though Germany objected to the idea. The Eurofighter Typhoon jets are built by a consortium of Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain, represented by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.
Putin-Erdoğan meeting
Also in April, Erdoğan is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin after a lengthy delay in the latter’s travel to Türkiye. During talks, the two leaders will likely discuss bilateral relations, regional issues, and the Black Sea grain initiative that Türkiye is pushing for. Other topics the two leaders are expected to cover will be the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the possibility of a cease-fire, as well as Israel’s attacks on Gaza. On the economic side, they will discuss establishing an energy hub in northwestern Türkiye, the state of Akkuyu nuclear power plant Russia is building in Türkiye, and trade between the two countries.
Ankara has sought to persuade Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative – brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations – that ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea during the war. Russia withdrew from the accord in July 2023 and has said it was not interested in reviving it.
NATO member Türkiye shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has aimed to maintain good ties with both amid the war. It has voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity while opposing the sanctions on Russia.
Erdoğan and Putin last met in the Russian city of Sochi in September.
Russia is a top energy supplier for Türkiye. Elsewhere, Ankara and Moscow have a variety of policy differences regarding regional conflicts in Syria, Libya and the Southern Caucasus.
Normalization with Egypt
In late April, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi is scheduled to visit Türkiye, a few months after Erdoğan’s landmark visit to Cairo to fully normalize strained ties. Erdoğan has said earlier that he invited the Egyptian leader for a meeting that would be a “turning point” in relations, especially in trade and economic cooperation. Erdoğan and el-Sissi will also discuss the situation in Egypt’s neighbor, Gaza. Egypt controls a major border crossing into the Palestinian enclave and cooperates with Türkiye for the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid for millions of Palestinians under the Israeli blockade.
Ties with Greece
On May 14, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected to visit Türkiye after Erdoğan’s visit to Athens in December. After a period of lukewarm relations, Erdoğan stated that the two countries had no issues they could not resolve during his talks with Mitsotakis. The Erdoğan-Mitsotakis talks will likely focus on bilateral relations, trade and military confidence-building measures.
White House visit
On May 9-10, Erdoğan will be in Washington D.C. as the guest of President Joe Biden for the first time since Biden took office. The two leaders, who have met on the margins of many summits such as the United Nations and NATO, will discuss what needs to be done to achieve the $100 billion trade volume target. The acceleration of the F-16 procurement process and the negotiation of the return of the $1.4 billion Türkiye paid for the F-35 project will be discussed.
Counterterrorism will also be one of the most important agenda items during the leaders’ meeting. Erdoğan will likely ask Biden to cease U.S. support for the terrorist group PKK in Syria.
EU and summits
In June, Erdoğan will travel to Spain for talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The main agenda of the meeting will be Türkiye’s European Union process and procurement of Eurofighter jets. It is expected that Spain will once again confirm its support for Türkiye’s EU membership during the summit.
Türkiye has the most extended history with the union and the most prolonged negotiation process. The country signed an association agreement with the EU’s predecessor in 1964, the European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987, Türkiye had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country. For the start of the negotiations, however, Türkiye had to wait for another six years, until 2005, a uniquely long process compared with other candidates.
The accession talks have nine chapters, some complementary to each other. These include high-level dialogue meetings, updates to the customs union, visa liberalization, counterterrorism efforts, security and defense, financial cooperation, and communications.
Recently, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that “strategic blindness” hindered Türkiye’s EU membership process. “It is essential to have a visionary view of Turkish-EU relations in the new era and revive the process with the perspective of full membership,” Fidan told Turkish ambassadors at a meeting in the capital, Ankara. This “blindness” cost Türkiye more than five decades, as the process adhered to a course based on “need” for each other rather than joint strategic goals and trust for each other for both parties has long been low.
President Erdoğan will be in Washington for the NATO Leaders Summit on July 9-11, followed by the G-20 Summit in Brazil on July 12-14. In late September, Erdoğan will go to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
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