ADDS TURKISH PRESIDENT'S MEETING, ATTENDS SAPLING-PLANTING
By Diyar Guldogan and Ferdi Türkten
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived Thursday in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for a two-day visit, which includes an international summit and one-on-one meetings with world leaders.
Erdogan visited the historical Hazrat Khizr Mosque and Tomb. He attended a sapling-planting with leaders of countries participating in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit and toured newly built areas of the city.
Later, Erdogan attended a dinner with the leaders.
On the sidelines of the summit, Erdogan held a closed-door meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. No further information on the meeting was released.
Also, Erdogan received Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a closed-door meeting.
The recent deadly border clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which Erdogan has criticized Armenia for provoking, were likely a subject of discussion.
On Friday, Erdogan will attend as a special guest the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, with Türkiye taking part at the presidential level for the first time since Ankara obtained SCO dialogue partner status in 2012.
Established in 2001, the eight-member organization aims to strengthen friendly, good neighborly relations and mutual trust among member states.
Erdogan is expected to address the second session of the summit and hold bilateral meetings with such leaders as his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The historic grain export deal signed this July by the UN, Türkiye, Russia, and Ukraine will be discussed during the talks between Erdogan and Putin.
Erdogan has said Türkiye wants grain shipments from Russia to also resume, like Ukraine’s exports under the deal.