President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, despite the ongoing implications of the coronavirus pandemic, conducted intense diplomatic traffic in 2021 just as in previous years.
Suspending his foreign visits in the first half of the year due to the pandemic, Erdoğan made 14 visits, two of which were to Azerbaijan.
Erdoğan, whose first abroad visit was to Belgium on June 13-14 to attend the NATO Summit, also held many bilateral meetings on the trip. Erdoğan held his first face-to-face meeting with United States President Joe Biden, who took office in 2020, following the summit.
After their crucial meeting on the sidelines of the NATO leaders summit, the two presidents confirmed their willingness to restore strained ties and increase cooperation.
Erdoğan, who made his second visit of the year to Azerbaijan on June 15-16 upon the invitation of President Ilham Aliyev, met with Aliyev in Fuzuli, which was liberated from Armenian occupation last year. Later, Erdoğan traveled to Shusha, where he was welcomed with an official ceremony. Holding a joint press conference after their meeting, Erdoğan and Aliyev signed the Shusha Declaration, which aimed at deepening ties in several areas of cooperation, including security.
President Erdoğan paid his second visit to Azerbaijan on Oct. 26, once again upon Aliyev's invitation. During this visit, Erdoğan became the first president to land at the international airport constructed in Fuzuli, which was liberated from the occupation. The two leaders cut the opening ribbon of the airport.
Erdoğan also welcomed this year's Eid al-Adha in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), where he traveled on the eve of holiday upon the invitation of President Ersin Tatar.
The president also paid an official visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Aug. 27 and to Montenegro on Aug. 28.
Opening of Turkish House
Erdoğan paid a visit to the U.S. on Sept. 19-22, 2021, to attend the 76th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
In his speech there, Erdoğan once again called for a fairer global system and reiterated Turkey's hope for a more just world.
Erdoğan, who made various contacts throughout his program, opened the new Turkish House (Türkevi) in New York on Sept. 20, a 36-story building across from the U.N. headquarters.
The newly opened Turkish House is a symbol of Turkey's faith in the United Nations, representing multilateralism, justice and peace, Erdoğan said as he officially inaugurated the landmark building in New York City, adding that the "masterpiece" of a building will serve for decades to come as a lasting symbol of Turkey's diplomatic success.
Erdoğan also had a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, where he paid a working visit on Sept. 29.
It was the two leaders' first face-to-face talks in 18 months.
Africa tour
Erdoğan conducted an important diplomatic tour in Africa, where Turkey increased the number of embassies from 12 in 2002 to 43 in 2021. Accordingly, Erdoğan made a series of visits to Angola, Togo and Nigeria in October. With Turkey's first presidential visits to Togo and Angola, Erdoğan has visited 30 African countries over the course of his presidency and prime ministership.
Turkey’s engagement with the African continent has been gaining pace over the years. Since taking office nearly two decades ago, first serving as prime minister, Erdoğan has been fostering ties with Africa, presenting Turkey as a fairer player than the continent’s former colonial powers. Ankara has been stressing the desire to advance relations with the continent on the basis of a win-win relationship and equal partnership while observing mutual respect. Both sides have been vowing to tap into their greater potential when it comes to further expanding and deepening relations.
During the visit, Erdoğan underlined that Western countries for years exploited the continent of Africa for their own interests and drew on his message for a fairer world by calling on the oppressed to act together for this aim.
Later in the autumn, Erdoğan went to Rome to attend the G-20 Leaders' Summit on Oct. 30 and held bilateral meetings with many heads of state and government in Italy.
Erdoğan and Biden met once again on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome and expressed their joint desire to strengthen bilateral relations that had been strained as of late, agreeing to establish a joint mechanism in that direction.
Paying an official visit to Turkmenistan on Nov. 27-28, Erdoğan attended the Economic Cooperation Organization Summit, in which Turkey was one of the founding members, on the second day of his visit. He held bilateral meetings with the heads of state of Iran, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan within the scope of the summit.
Erdoğan also paid the last visit of the year to Qatar upon the invitation of the ruling emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, on Dec. 6-7 on the occasion of the seventh meeting of the Turkey-Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee. During the visit, Turkey and Qatar signed 15 different agreements to enhance cooperation between the two countries.
Meetings in Turkey
In 2021, Turkey also received many leaders and hosted major international organizations in the country.
Under Erdoğan as chair, Turkey hosted the Turkic Council Summit in Istanbul in November.
During the meeting, the name of the council was changed to the Organization of Turkic States as part of efforts to further strengthen ties between Turkic countries and future transformation.
Then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among Erdoğan's guests in 2021. The president hosted his guest at Huber Mansion.
"We have established a close dialogue based on mutual respect with my esteemed friend Ms. Merkel after she started her term in 2005," Erdoğan said, adding that the German chancellor always displayed a prudent and solution-based approach throughout their 16 years of meetings.
On Nov. 24, Erdoğan hosted Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sought to repair their relations and increase economic cooperation.
The visit by the crown prince, seen as the de facto leader and the force behind the UAE’s foreign policy posture, was his first official trip to Turkey since 2012 and the highest-level visit by an Emirati official since relations hit a low as the countries battled for regional influence and backed opposing sides in conflicts.
Turkish officials described MBZ's visit as the "beginning of a new era" following years of hostility after Ankara blamed the UAE for financing the 2016 coup plotters in Turkey and undermining Turkish interests in Libya.
The 3rd Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit was held in Istanbul on Dec. 16-18, and many heads of state and government and foreign ministers attended the summit. Erdoğan met with many of their counterparts who came to Istanbul as part of the summit.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Erdoğan said, "We want to develop together and increase the welfare of our people together; thus, we attach great importance to the memorandum of understanding."
Erdoğan said Turkey and African countries agreed on a joint action plan for partnership in several fields, including peace, security, infrastructure and trade. It is a "great injustice" that the African continent, with its population of 1.3 billion, is not represented on the U.N. Security Council, the president noted.