EU Council: Ankara invited to European Political Community Summit

Ankara is invited to the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Chisinau on June 1, but the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must be confirmed by the Turkish authorities.

"Türkiye is a member of the EPC and is, of course, invited to the summit in Chisinau. However, this country chooses the level of its representation itself, therefore, the answer to the question of whether the summit of the European Political Community will be the place of the first visit of President Erdogan after the elections must be given by the Turkish authorities EU Council’s press service reported on May 29, TASS says.

Erdogan represented Türkiye at the first EPC summit in Prague on October 6, 2022.

Turkish leader's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in Ankara on May 29 that Erdogan could move away from the tradition of making his first post-election foreign visits to Azerbaijan and Northern Cyprus and attend an EPC summit in Moldova.

The first foreign visit of the elected president is considered significant in terms of identifying the priorities of his future foreign policy. According to some European experts, a trip to the EPC summit would soften the West's perception of Erdogan's harsh anti-American rhetoric during the election campaign. At the same time, for Turkish voters, a visit to Chisinau does not look like a pro-Western step, unlike, for example, a visit to Brussels, analysts point out.

The European Political Community was created at the initiative of France in 2022. It is assumed that participation in this format will replace the prospect of EU membership for those countries that Brussels seeks to draw into its orbit, but is not ready to motivate with the possibility of joining the European Union. The EPC includes 27 EU countries, the UK and 19 non-EU countries in Europe and North Africa.