Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used the NATO summit on Wednesday to press the EU to stop sidelining Turkey from Europe’s defence plans, arguing that the continent’s rearmament cannot succeed without Ankara.

With leaders of the transatlantic alliance gathered at his presidential palace, Erdoğan used his opening address to urge the EU to “avoid duplicating NATO structures” and excluding non-EU allies from Europe’s emerging defence architecture, warning that such moves would “weaken transatlantic security.”

Turkey is currently excluded from EU defence programmes, including the SAFE defence loan instrument, as Greece continues to block Ankara’s full participation.

Erdoğan also renewed his call for restrictions on defence cooperation among NATO allies to be lifted, arguing that industrial barriers undermine the alliance’s collective capabilities. His remarks appeared to allude to long-running disputes over arms export restrictions and Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 fighter jet programme.

To reinforce his argument, Erdoğan pointed to Turkey’s growing military weight within the alliance and on the southern flank in particular. Turkey fields NATO’s second-largest armed forces after the United States, he said, and has already increased defence spending to 3.5% of GDP.

He also announced an additional $24 billion (€21 billion) investment in air and missile defence, saying the funding would help address one of NATO’s most significant capability gaps.

Highlighting Turkey’s defence industry, Erdoğan pointed to the country’s combat-tested drones and proposed establishing a NATO-accredited Centre of Excellence for unmanned systems and countermeasures in Turkey to strengthen the alliance’s response to aerial and maritime drone threats.

Beyond defence, Erdoğan reiterated his support for efforts to end the war in Ukraine while maintaining dialogue with Russia.

“While supporting Ukraine, we are also using our communication channels to encourage Russia towards peace,” he said, adding that Turkey would continue contributing to the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

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