Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for Turkey’s full integration into European defence structures, specifically demanding access to the European Union’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, as NATO prepares for a summit in Ankara on 7–8 July. Speaking to parliamentary delegates from all 32 member states in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey’s “indispensable contributions to European security are sometimes overlooked” and urged lawmakers to support its inclusion in all continental defence and security initiatives. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, who is due in Ankara on 29–30 June, acknowledged Turkey’s strategic role in regional security, migration management, and defence cooperation, but an EU spokesperson stated that third-country participation in SAFE projects requires a bilateral agreement, and “no such agreement currently exists with Turkey.”

Viewed from Ankara, the demand reflects a long-standing grievance over what Turkish officials describe as politically motivated restrictions on defence industry trade within the alliance. Erdogan linked the issue to alliance burden-sharing, arguing that “if we want to overcome the challenges we face, we need to remove obstacles to defence industry trade while ensuring a balanced and fair burden-sharing among allies.” Turkey, which fields NATO’s second-largest army and has a defence industry ranked eleventh globally, has seen its exports grow by 29.5 per cent in the first five months of the year to approximately $4 billion. However, European capitals, notably Paris and Berlin, remain cautious due to policy differences over Cyprus and Ankara’s ties with Russia, and Greece has threatened to block Turkish access to SAFE.

Kallas, for her part, rejected the idea of a standalone European army, stating that national forces already operate within NATO’s broader structure and that “threats are regional in nature, so the response must also be regional.” She called for increased defence investment and closer coordination between the EU and NATO to avoid duplication. On the Middle East, Kallas said the EU continues to support a two-state solution but warned that “extremist settlers and the expansion of settlements are making the two-state solution practically impossible.” Erdogan, addressing the same parliamentary gathering, asserted that the root of regional tensions is the Palestine question and that lasting peace requires an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders.

The upcoming NATO summit will test alliance unity at a moment of transatlantic strain, with discussions expected to cover burden-sharing, defence production, and support for Ukraine, as well as the wars in Gaza and Iran. Kallas described the meeting as genuinely historic given current tensions, emphasising that “displaying unity is very important, not just for alliance members but also for our rivals.” While Turkey’s demand for inclusion in SAFE remains blocked by the requirement for unanimous EU approval, the summit and Kallas’s bilateral visit are expected to keep the dossier alive, with no immediate breakthrough anticipated.