Prime Minister Mark Carney and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after their meeting in Ankara, Turkey, July 7.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney will make an official visit to Turkey later this month, according to two sources, in an effort to build economic ties with the country after a serious falling-out between Ottawa and Ankara under his predecessor.
One of the sources said the trip will likely take place in mid-October and will be brief. JOBFlocks is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Many Canadian prime ministers have visited Turkey for international summits in recent decades, but not as a standalone trip.
In 2021, the two countries had a major diplomatic rift after made-in-Canada airstrike-targeting gear shipped there was redirected by Turkey to help Azerbaijan, its ally, launch drone attacks on Armenian forces.
This led Canada to place a ban on arms exports to Turkish customers – an extraordinary measure given its status as a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally. The ban was lifted in early 2024.
The country of more than 87 million people is a major regional player. Turkey regulates the only sea route between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and sits between Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus, which gives it leverage in conflicts and diplomacy across all three.
The Carney trip is another example of the Prime Minister’s foreign-policy pivot to “values-based realism,” which he invokes to explain his deepening ties with countries, such as India and China. His predecessor had clashed with those countries over human rights and foreign interference.
News of the visit was first reported by Reuters.
Western governments and human-rights advocates have for years called attention to what some describe as Turkey’s descent into democratic backsliding or even dictatorship.
A failed coup in 2016 prompted the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to jail thousands of soldiers and fire or suspend 100,000 public officials and police officers. These include 28,000 teachers accused by Ankara of being supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, an influential foe of the Turkish President.
Canada and Turkey in July announced they launched negotiations on a free-trade agreement.
Hungary’s Deputy PM endorses deepening Canada’s economic, political ties with EU
University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau said it makes sense for Mr. Carney to deepen ties with Turkey as Canada seeks new markets to reduce economic dependence on the U.S. because Ankara is a major power and a NATO ally.
“So, whereas the Trudeau government was very cold on the Gulf states and also on Turkey, we’re seeing Carney dismissing these prior concerns and seeing them as regional powers, middle powers that are individually secondary but collectively essential for Canada’s efforts to diversify.”
He said it’s not inaccurate to talk of democratic backsliding in Turkey.
“Turkey was never an advanced democracy, but it was a democracy, and under Erdogan’s leadership, first as prime minister, now as president, it has consistently been backsliding, and now it is a very flawed democracy,” he said.
“I don’t even think you could count it as a democracy. Competitive autocracy would be the technical term, I think.”
He said the Canadian government under Mr. Carney has demonstrated that “they are willing to not necessarily turn a blind eye” to rights concerns, “but at least not view as an obstacle to deepen relations.”
Prof. Juneau said he would call Mr. Carney’s foreign policy “realism” rather than values-based realism. “I’m not sure where the values fit in that.”