Erdogan says bilateral talks with Trump likely at NATO summit in Turkey

ANKARA, June 24 (Reuters) - Turkish ‌President Tayyip Erdogan ​said ​on Wednesday that he would "most likely" hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Donald Trump when the U.S. leader comes ‌to Ankara for a NATO summit next month.

Turkey will host ⁠32 NATO leaders, as well as officials from the alliance's partners in the ‌Gulf and Asia-Pacific region, on ‌July 7-8 amid tensions within the alliance over burden-sharing, defence spending, and U.S. complaints over allies' involvement on re-opening the Strait of ​Hormuz during the U.S.-Iran war.

Erdogan has previously said Trump's attendance at the summit was important to show unity within the alliance.

Asked by ⁠reporters in parliament if the two leaders planned to meet separately outside of the summit ​on July 7-8, he said "it will most likely happen", but did not elaborate further.

The two leaders have forged a ​close relationship since Trump returned to ‌the White House in 2024, increasing cooperation on a range of regional issues and resolving some outstanding disputes ⁠like Turkish state lender Halkbank's sanctions-evasion case.

Burhanettin Duran, Erdogan's communications director, told representatives of Turkish media in Ankara that burden-sharing would be among the key agenda ⁠points at the Ankara summit.

"The changing security architecture is pushing NATO allies to ​re-evaluate their defence spending. In that framework, Turkey aims to reach the 3.5% + 1.5% target by the end of 2030," Duran said, according to a readout of ‌his comments on Wednesday.

Representatives of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, a partnership forum with some Middle Eastern countries, ‌as well as Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia - known as ⁠the Indo-Pacific Four - will also ‌attend the summit at ​the foreign ministers level.

(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever and Jonathan Spicer; Writing by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and ‌Louise Heavens)

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