Prime Minister Carney speaks with President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Press Release + Noah Note
OTTAWA, ON, April 15, 2026 /CNW/ - Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, spoke with the President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Prime Minister Carney expressed his deepest condolences to President Erdoğan on the tragic school shootings in Türkiye.
The Prime Minister and the President expressed their shared concern over the evolving security situation in the Middle East. Prime Minister Carney underscored Canada's solidarity with Türkiye in light of recent missile activity affecting Turkish airspace and surrounding areas.
Prime Minister Carney and President Erdoğan emphasised progress underway to deepen commercial, defence, and energy partnerships between Canada and Türkiye. This includes expanding bilateral trade and investment, strengthening cooperation in nuclear energy, and new opportunities in defence procurement through the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. As Türkiye prepares to host the 2026 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya in the fall, the leaders looked forward to identifying additional opportunities in clean energy investments and cooperation.
On Ukraine, the Prime Minister welcomed Türkiye's diplomatic initiatives in the face of Russia's continued aggression, including the facilitation of humanitarian engagement and prisoner exchanges.
Prime Minister Carney recognised Türkiye's leadership as host of the NATO Summit that will take place in Ankara on July 7, an opportunity to reinforce defence and security cooperation.
The leaders agreed to remain in close contact.
Noah Note: Oftentimes in discussion of NATO allies Türkiye gets forgotten. I don't think its necessarily intentional, though their weird status among our allies and both ‘in-and-out’ so to speak does mean that oftentimes, despite Türkiye being a major player in both the Middle East and NATO, they are usually overlooked.
I think there is room for cooperation, and for doing more. The Federals seem to think so too, even if it seems the primary focus is building support for thr DSRB. I think it's safe to say that Canada has taken charge of trying to get thr Bank off the ground.
We have long been it's biggest supporter, and Canada’s financial powerhouses have all signed on to support it in the critical esrly stages. Canada also has the most significant campaigns trying to lock in the headquarters. With all that in mind, it would be easy to mistake the DSRB for a Canadian initative, given how invested we are.
Of course time will tell if the Feds can rally the majority of our allies to support. I think theres room for.more dialog with Türkiye when it comes to industrial cooperation. Time will tell hiw that pans, but it still feels like we're at a stage of small talk over significant movement.