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Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara in July.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney leaves Wednesday for Turkey where he will sign agreements to deepen co-operation on energy among other areas, a source familiar with the trip said.
Three senior government officials briefing journalists in Ottawa Tuesday said the Prime Minister’s brief visit, which spans three days, will also expand joint efforts on defence and security with Ankara, a NATO ally of Canada’s.
The Globe is not identifying these sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.
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With a population of 87 million people, Turkey’s economy is the 16th largest in the world. The visit comes as Mr. Carney’s government has been focused on expanding economic relationships in the midst of a trade war with the United States.
The trip will be another test of Mr. Carney’s pivot to “values-based realism” foreign policy that replaced former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s focus on progressive values. The Prime Minister has explained this new approach means no more “lecturing from afar” if Canada disagrees with another country’s conduct.
For instance, Mr. Carney’s trip to Turkey, part of his drive to reduce trade reliance on the U.S., is taking him to a country which in recent months has taken over a pro-opposition media outlet, raided LGBTQ groups and convicted a stand-up comic of insulting the country’s President.
Officials at a government briefing on Tuesday could not say if Mr. Carny planned to meet with LGBTQ community members, or journalists from Halk TV, or the comedian Deniz Goktas who was convicted and sentenced to 19 months in jail. He is free on appeal.
On Thursday, Mr. Carney will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara to discuss co-operation on trade and investment, defence and people-to-people ties, officials said.
The two leaders will issue an update on negotiations for a Canada-Turkey free trade deal, officials said.
On Friday, Mr. Carney will meet with businesspeople in Istanbul. He returns to Canada on Saturday.
Turkey’s envoy in Ottawa said Ankara is hungry for what Canada has on offer.
“The sky is the limit,” Turkish ambassador Can Dizdar said of future co-operation between the two countries.
Carney’s realist foreign policy faces test in Turkey as countries aim to expand relations
Canada hopes to sell CANDU nuclear reactors to Turkey, which plans to add 20 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2050. Ottawa wants to supply Ankara with critical minerals and stoke Turkish interest in investing in related mining projects, possibly with Canadian partners, and export liquefied natural gas to Turkey.
Mr. Dizdar said Turkey and Canada could deepen co-operation in drone technology, aerospace, naval systems, shipbuilding parts, munitions production and vehicles. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ranked Turkey as the 11th largest arms exporter in the world for the period from 2021 to 2025.
Turkey is the latest stop in Mr. Carney’s efforts to repair ties that suffered in the last decade. He will be the first Canadian prime minister in history to make a bilateral visit to Turkey, meaning a leader’s trip focused on Canada-Turkish relations instead of an international summit being held there.
He has reset diplomatic relations with China after allegations of foreign interference and hostage diplomacy, with India after accusations that New Delhi was behind the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil and now is appearing to do the same with Turkey, where ties suffered greatly after Ottawa restricted arms shipments to Ankara in recent years.
Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, a new Canadian think tank on foreign policy, said Mr. Carney is in high demand from world leaders this year after his World Economic Speech in Davos where he argued that the post-Cold War rules-based order has suffered “a rupture, not a transition” and that middle powers like Canada must act together or risk being left on the menu.
“Right now, he is seen as a major player on the international stage and lots of countries would like him to visit – would like him to participate in their events,” Ms. Nadjibulla said. The fact that Mr. Carney is quickly returning to Turkey after announcing the launch of free trade talks during the July NATO leader’s summit in Ankara “shows how much importance he gives to this relationship and building a relationship with as a pivotal state in the Middle East,” she said.
“I think the timing is important because it’s not happening in 2027. It’s happening now in a fairly busy moment.”