President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Thursday at 1.45 p.m. local time to attend the 22nd Summit of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
President Erdoğan was welcomed at Samarkand International Airport by Uzbekistan Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov, Deputy Prime Minister Camshid Hocayev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gayrat Fazilov, Türkiye's Ambassador to Tashkent Olgan Bekar, Uzbekistan's Ambassador to Ankara Alisher Azamhocayev and other officials.
First lady Emine Erdoğan, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) head Hakan Fidan, Presidency Defense Industries head İsmail Demir, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairperson and party spokesperson Ömer Çelik also traveled to Samarkand.
President Erdoğan will attend the summit as a special guest upon the invitation of Uzbekistan's President Shevket Mirziyoyev.
It will be the first time that Türkiye has participated in the summit meetings at the "presidential" level since 2012 when Türkiye obtained the "dialogue partner" status at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
President Erdoğan, who will hold bilateral meetings with some leaders within the scope of the summit, will also speak at the summit session to be held Friday.
Erdoğan visited the historic Hazrat Khizr Mosque and Tomb. He then attended a sapling-planting with leaders of countries attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and tour the newly built areas of the city.
On the sidelines of the summit, Erdoğan held a closed-door meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. No further information on the meeting was released.
The recent deadly border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which Erdogan has criticized Armenia for provoking, were likely a subject of discussion.
After his visit to Uzbekistan, the president will fly to New York, U.S. to attend the 77th session of the U.N. General Assembly, a statement from the presidency said Wednesday.
He will address the General Assembly on Sept. 20, 2022, and will also meet with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, as well as several heads of state.
The president is also expected to meet with representatives of Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), business organizations and Jewish organizations in the U.S.