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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received the European Union's top foreign policy official and two senior commissioners in Ankara on Tuesday, in a high-level visit that comes just over a week before Türkiye hosts the NATO summit.
Erdogan met EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and her delegation at the Presidential Complex in a closed-door session also attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Communications Director Burhanettin Duran and presidential chief adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic. No official details of the discussion have been released.
Kallas was joined on the two-day trip, which began Monday, by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner.
The officials also held separate talks with Fidan in Ankara, though further detail on that meeting was not immediately available, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.
The visit comes ahead of the NATO summit scheduled for July 7-8 in Ankara, which will be the alliance's 36th summit and the second hosted by Türkiye since Istanbul welcomed leaders in 2004. It also falls just before Ireland takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council on July 1.
Writing on social media platform X after her meeting with Erdogan, Kallas described Türkiye as "a key partner on security, migration, and energy" and noted its status as an EU candidate country.
She said the two sides discussed strengthening EU-Türkiye relations and the importance of good-neighborly ties, in addition to Russia's war against Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and preparations for the NATO summit.
She added that Türkiye is making a significant contribution to protecting NATO's eastern flank.
Brunner, whose portfolio covers internal affairs and migration, said security and migration cooperation remained a shared priority, noting that "the current geopolitical situation highlighted that we face common challenges and we need to work together."
Kos pointed to potential gains in trade, investment and transport, energy and digital connectivity between Europe and Asia, calling closer cooperation with Ankara mutually beneficial.
She wrote that close EU-Türkiye cooperation "can bring greater predictability and advance regional stability" at a time of growing turbulence.
The simultaneous visit by the three officials has been read as a sign of the EU's growing emphasis on its relationship with Türkiye amid shifting global dynamics. It marked Kallas's second official visit to the country.
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