Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accepted an invitation from President Karol Nawrocki to visit Poland, creating a new diplomatic follow-up to talks between the two NATO leaders during the UN General Assembly in New York.
Nawrocki and Erdoğan met at the Turkish House in New York on Tuesday, 22 September, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Türkiye’s presidency confirmed the meeting, while a fuller account carried by Anadolu Agency said the talks covered bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.
Rafał Leśkiewicz, spokesman for the Polish president, said on Wednesday that Nawrocki had invited Erdoğan to make a visit to Poland and that the Turkish leader had accepted.
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“President Erdoğan accepted this invitation,” Leśkiewicz told Wirtualna Polska, adding that the Presidential Chancellery would now work on establishing a specific date.
That means the visit is politically agreed but has not yet been scheduled.
According to the Turkish account of the New York talks, Erdoğan argued that further steps to increase trade between Poland and Türkiye would benefit both countries and said work was under way to develop cooperation in several areas, particularly the defence industry.
The two presidents also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine. Erdoğan said Türkiye was continuing efforts aimed at ending the conflict and working to maintain safe navigation in the Black Sea.
No specific new Polish-Turkish defence contract or procurement project was publicly identified following the New York meeting.
However, defence ties between the two countries have expanded substantially in recent years.
During Nawrocki’s official visit to Türkiye in June, the Polish president described defence and arms-industry cooperation as one of the central elements of the relationship. He pointed to existing contracts and the potential for closer cooperation between the two countries’ defence sectors.
Poland already operates Turkish-made Bayraktar unmanned aircraft, while Turkish troops have served in Poland as part of NATO deployments. Nawrocki also visited Turkish defence-electronics company ASELSAN during his June trip.
One major existing programme involves an approximately PLN 2 billion contract between Poland’s Armament Agency and ASELSAN for an automated electronic reconnaissance and jamming system. According to the Polish presidency, deliveries under that agreement are scheduled to continue until 2035.
The New York meeting therefore appears to continue a relationship that both governments have been trying to broaden beyond individual arms purchases into longer-term industrial and security cooperation.
Poland and Türkiye occupy different but strategically important parts of NATO’s eastern neighbourhood. Poland is a central allied state facing the Baltic region and the alliance’s border with Belarus and Russia, while Türkiye controls access between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and maintains diplomatic channels with both Ukraine and Russia.
During his June visit to Ankara, Nawrocki described Türkiye as one of Poland’s most important partners and emphasised the two countries’ respective roles around the Baltic and Black seas. He also highlighted cooperation within NATO and regional security structures.
The bilateral relationship has also developed economically. At the June meeting, Nawrocki said Polish-Turkish trade had increased sevenfold over time and had proved resilient through the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic disruption following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Erdoğan’s latest comments indicate that Ankara wants that economic relationship to expand further, although no new trade target or agreement was announced in New York.
The leaders also exchanged invitations.
Alongside accepting Nawrocki’s invitation to Poland, Erdoğan invited the Polish president to attend the COP31 leaders’ summit scheduled to take place in Antalya in November.
The planned Erdoğan visit would reverse the direction of the two countries’ recent high-level diplomacy. Nawrocki made an official visit to Türkiye on 23–24 June and returned to Ankara for the NATO summit in July.
A date, programme and precise agenda for Erdoğan’s trip to Poland have not yet been announced.
