Eduardo González
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been in Madrid since yesterday to chair, together with the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, the eighth Spanish-Turkish intergovernmental Summit, in which, among other issues, the harmony between the two will be addressed. countries in the face of the Gaza conflict and the strengthening of economic and business relations with a view to reaching 25 billion euros in trade exchanges.
Erdogan arrived yesterday afternoon in Madrid, where he was received in audience by King Felipe VI, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and by the ambassador of Spain in the Republic of Turkey, Cristina Latorre Sancho. The Turkish president’s last visit to Spain took place two years ago, on the occasion of the NATO Summit in Madrid.
The Turkish president’s work agenda will be developed today with his participation in the Summit, in which, on the Turkish side, Erdogan will participate with six ministers (Energy and Resources, Treasury and Finance, industry and Technology, Commerce, Agriculture and Forestry and Family and Social Security) and, on the Spanish side, Pedro Sánchez with eight members of his Government (the vice presidents of Labor and Ecological Transition, Yolanda Díaz and Teresa Ribero, respectively; and the ministers of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; Transport, Óscar Puente; Agriculture, Fishing and Food, Luis Planas; and Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, Science and Universities, Diana Morant; and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz).
In the run-up to the summit, Sánchez and Erdogan will chair the Spain-Turkey business meeting this morning, which will take place in the Auditorium of the BBVA City Headquarters in Madrid and in which an unusually large delegation of 150 Turkish companies will participate. During the meeting, several thematic tables will be held and, in parallel, a specific meeting between companies from the military industry of the two countries, with the presence of the Secretary of State for Defense, Amparo Valcarce.
According to Moncloa sources, trade exchanges between the two countries have increased in recent years, reaching 18 billion euros annually, and one of the objectives of the Summit (and this will be stated in the final joint declaration) is that 25 billion euros in exchanges have been reached when the next bilateral meeting is held. Currently, Spain is Turkey’s eighth client and Türkiye is the tenth supplier to Spain.
Furthermore, the stock of Spanish investments in Turkey is 7.5 billion euros, in sectors such as energy, infrastructure or trade. BBVA, which will host the business meeting, currently owns 85 percent of the main Turkish bank, Garanti. Around 700 Spanish companies operate in Türkiye, in sectors such as energy, infrastructure or trade. Likewise, opportunities for international cooperation are important, since Turkish companies are especially interested in increasing their presence in Latin America through Spain and Spanish companies are trying to grow in Eastern Europe and Africa through, precisely, Turkey.
Joint declaration and thirteen bilateral agreements
After the business meeting, Erdogan and his delegation will travel to Moncloa, where the president will hold a bilateral meeting with Sánchez and, in parallel, bilateral meetings will be held between the ministers of each sector. These meetings will last one hour. Subsequently, a plenary session will take place to address the results of the meetings and bilateral agreements, which will be followed by the signing of these agreements and the joint declaration, a joint press conference of the two leaders and a lunch hosted by Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa.
According to the aforementioned sources, the joint declaration is intended to be a continuation of the one signed at the 2021 Summit, held in Ankara and in which the current Comprehensive Partnership framework was agreed. Likewise, the text will include references to bilateral relations, to the harmony of the two countries in international affairs, including the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine; the aforementioned objective of reaching 25,000 million and various provisions on security and defense, the fight against crime and terrorism, migration, energy and climate change, work, youth and culture.
Additionally, thirteen memoranda of understanding will be signed at the Summit: four on trade relations, two on energy and the environment, two on scientific and technological cooperation, one on vocational training, one on a plan for access to public employment services, one on the Cervantes Institute and its Turkish counterpart, one on the recognition of maritime transport titles and a final agreement on political cooperation in the field of social services.
Regarding harmony in international affairs, Moncloa sources highlighted that for Spain it is very important to maintain close relations with a country with so much weight in the international arena and especially involved in the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
The question of Palestine should play an important role in this meeting. On May 27, Sánchez and Erdogan discussed by telephone the situation in Gaza and Spain’s decision to approve the recognition of Palestine as a State the following day, a measure that Turkey supports. Turkey has tried to act as a mediator between Israel and Hamas to try to stop the war in Gaza, but in recent times it has accentuated its criticism of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Erdogan has come to describe as a “vampire.”
Another issue that will surely come up at the Summit will be Turkey’s aspiration to join the European Union. On March 24, Albares paid a visit to Turkey, in which he reiterated that Spain supports Turkey’s candidacy to enter the EU and opted for the European Union to strengthen its dialogue with Turkey and clear its path to accession by establishing ” clear milestones” for completion. The country has had candidate status since 1999 and began accession negotiations in 2005, but these have been paralyzed since 2018. His Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, acknowledged that “Spain has been one of the countries that has sincerely supported our accession process. to the European Union from the beginning.”
Turkey’s discontent over the reluctance of several EU partners to accept its membership in the community club resulted, in October of last year, in Erdogan’s decision not to attend the Third Conference of the European Political Community, which was held in Granada, within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The 2021 Summit
The bilateral summits between Spain and Turkey began in 2009. In the last one, which took place in November 2021 in Ankara, it was decided to raise relations between the two countries to the level of Comprehensive Association, but the center stage of that meeting was taken by Erdogan’s announcement that Turkey hoped to increase defense cooperation with NATO ally Spain by purchasing an aircraft carrier and also, possibly a submarine, through Navantia (the purchase has not materialized and everything points to which will not be done in the future).
His statements provoked protests from Greece, which summoned the Spanish ambassador in Athens. Albares was forced to tour Greece and Cyprus, two countries that maintain a tense neighborly relationship with Turkey and consider it a kind of betrayal that Spain, a partner country in the European Union, has such close military ties with a Government like that of Ankara.
