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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a Security and Defense Partnership Document between Türkiye and the United Kingdom on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in Ankara.
The signing came during a bilateral meeting in which the two leaders also discussed the state of Türkiye-UK relations and a range of regional and global developments, according to a statement from the Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications.
Erdogan said cooperation and close dialogue between the two countries were of significant importance, adding that both sides would continue to develop the bilateral relationship through concrete steps in the period ahead.
Beyond bilateral matters, Erdogan used the meeting to address broader concerns about the architecture of Western security.
He said global developments had underscored the importance of preserving NATO's role in collective security and of protecting what he called the "Transatlantic Bond."
He also stressed that non-EU NATO allies must be included in the European Union's emerging defense initiatives, a position Ankara has consistently advanced as Brussels moves to build a more autonomous European defense capacity.
The new partnership document deepens a relationship that has been gaining momentum over the past year.
In April, Türkiye and the UK signed a Strategic Partnership Framework covering defense, counterterrorism, organized crime, energy security, and science and technology cooperation, while also aiming to increase bilateral trade and modernize the existing free trade agreement.
The institutional groundwork for Wednesday's agreement was laid largely by a major defense industry deal struck last July, when the two countries signed an agreement paving the way for Türkiye's acquisition of up to 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets.
An initial order for 20 aircraft was placed, valued at up to £8 billion, making it the largest British fighter jet export agreement in a generation.
The package is expected to support around 20,000 jobs in the UK and involves a consortium of British defense companies including BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK, MBDA, and Martin-Baker. The first deliveries are scheduled for 2030.
The new Security and Defense Partnership Document is reported to extend cooperation further into areas including counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and responses to hybrid threats, as well as broader military coordination.
While its provisions have not been made public by either government, it is said to be similar in spirit to the 2021 bilateral defense pact between France and Greece.
Whether it includes a mutual defense clause has not been confirmed.
Türkiye and the UK are both long-standing members of NATO, the 32-nation alliance founded in 1949 on the principle of collective defense.
Türkiye, which holds the alliance's second-largest military force, has grown increasingly significant in European security discussions, particularly as the war in Ukraine has sharpened debate over burden-sharing and the boundaries of Western defense cooperation.
The Ankara summit is the first NATO leaders' meeting held on Turkish soil, adding further symbolic weight to the gathering and to the bilateral agreements concluded on its margins.
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