Erdogan to skip European summit in UK

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be attending the European Political Community Summit scheduled for 18 July at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, multiple sources told Middle East Eye.

More than 50 European leaders are expected to gather for the fourth summit since the community’s creation in 2022.

The initiative was initially promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron and convenes biannually, serving as a political forum for European leaders that does not impose binding commitments on any country.

This year’s event will be hosted by newly elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who made his international debut at a Nato summit in Washington last week.

Erdogan, who attended the inaugural summit in Prague in October 2022, skipped two summits in 2023 due to the presidential elections in May and an illness in October.

Turkish sources familiar with Erdogan’s schedule indicated that the Turkish president never officially confirmed his attendance, so his absence should not be seen as a cancellation.

Sources suggest a variety of reasons for Erdogan’s decision not to attend, including his recent extensive and exhausting international travels, which included trips to Kazakhstan and the US.

One source noted that Erdogan had already met many European leaders on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington, making another trip unnecessary.

Additionally, Erdogan has longstanding protocol issues with the British government. He withdrew from the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021 due to disagreements over security measures, including the size of his personal detail and disagreements over the use of  vehicles permitted during the event.

A second source confirmed that these protocol issues were a factor in his decision to skip the London summit, highlighting disputes over the number of bodyguards and the type of vehicle Turkish officials wished to use.

“Erdogan’s security protocol is universally applied everywhere, and the UK shouldn’t be an exception considering the recent assassination attempt on a US presidential candidate’s life,” the source said, referring to Donald Trump.

Erdogan isn’t alone in not making the trip. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will not join the summit since she will be in Strasbourg trying to persuade EU lawmakers to ratify her appointment for a second five-year term.

Reports suggest other European leaders will also be too jetlagged to attend the summit because of visits to Washington last week, and multiple past trips to Brussels over the last month. 

Erdogan held a bilateral meeting with Starmer in Washington on Thursday. 

According to a Turkish readout, Erdogan and Starmer discussed bilateral relations and various regional and global issues.

“President Erdogan said that in this new period, Turkey and Britain could take new steps to improve relations in all areas, and that they wish to continue to enhance the positive trajectory of their relations,” the readout stated.

Erdogan also took the opportunity to congratulate Starmer on his new position.