President Recept Tayp Erdogan officially began his visit to Indonesia after an official welcome ceremony by Indonesian President Prabowo Subaint at the Presidential Palace in Bogor on Wednesday.
Erdogan arrived from Malaysia late Tuesday. Like Malaysia, the Turkish president was welcomed to cheers waving Turkish and Indonesian flags as he headed from the airport to his hotel.
Erdogan and Subiant will chair a meeting of the Turkey and Indonesia’s high-level Strategic Cooperation Council, oversee the signing of transactions between the two countries, and hold a joint press conference. He will also be participating in business forums in Türkiye and Indonesia. The president is accompanied by a delegation of ministers, senior officials and representatives from the Turkish defense industry.
The two countries are holding their first High Level Council of Strategic Cooperation (HLSCC) summit after agreeing to create a forum at a conference held in Bali in 2022.
Erdogan’s visit to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country and the largest economy in Southeast Asia, was the second stop on an Asian tour that began in Malaysia and ended in Pakistan.
“This meeting is the highest regular bilateral forum between the two countries where all issues of common interest, including strategic issues and priorities, are discussed,” a spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One Rolliansyah Soemirat said before his visit.
According to a Turkey statement, the debate focused on current regional and global issues, particularly the war in Gaza.
On Monday, the Turkish leader met Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and repeatedly opposed the US proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, saying Israel should pay for the reconstruction of its territory.
“We don’t consider the Palestinians to be taken seriously as a proposal to escape from the land they have lived in for thousands of years,” Erdogan said.
Indonesia and Türkiye have been growing closer and closer in recent years, with the two leaders meeting previously in Ankara, where Subianto was still the presidential election and defense minister last July. Subianto has pledged to “enhance defence cooperation and other strategic areas for mutual benefit.”
The two countries signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2010. Under that, Indonesia’s state-run weapons producers Pindad and Türkiye’s FNSS jointly developed a new model of the medium tank. In 2023, the two countries engraved joint military exercises and action plans for defense industry cooperation.
In addition to Indonesia, Türkiye has HLSCC cooperation forums with 21 countries, including Pakistan.
Türkiye and Indonesia plan to sign trade, investment, education and technology contracts during Erdogan’s visit.
Erdogan will head to Pakistan on Wednesday, where he and Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif will address the Business and Investment Forum in Pakistan Churkiye and attend another HSLCC meeting.
