Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to the President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, this afternoon. He reiterated the importance of the UK-Türkiye relationship, with close and growing ties in trade, investment and defence.
President Erdoğan updated on President Zelenskyy's planned visit to Istanbul today and the Prime Minister welcomed Türkiye's role in challenging Russian aggression and continuing to uphold the vital Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Looking ahead to next week's NATO Summit, the Prime Minister looked forward to working with President Erdoğan to address shared challenges and ensure NATO remains strong and agile in defending our collective security.
He underlined the significant benefits of Sweden joining NATO and the progress they have made in addressing Türkiye's legitimate security concerns and hoped the alliance could proceed with ratifying their accession as soon as possible.
The Prime Minister also highlighted opportunities for greater collaboration on tackling illegal migration, an issue which affects both our countries. The UK would welcome efforts to further strengthen our cooperation on tackling criminal people smuggling gangs and returns.
