First posted on Instagram
U.S. President Donald Trump telephoned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, October 29, 2026, as Erdogan hosted an evening dinner for visiting leaders ahead of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) summit in Ankara, wishing the gathering success.
The call came on Türkiye's Republic Day, the 103rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, as the leaders sat down together at the Beştepe Presidential Complex. Erdogan relayed greetings from the leaders at the table to Trump, according to Türkiye's Directorate of Communications.
Erdogan told Trump that Ankara would host the organization's 13th summit and that it would produce decisions to carry the group forward, describing it as an organization that has become "an address of stability and security" in Central Asia, with a combined population of more than 200 million.
It was the second phone call between the two presidents in under 24 hours. In the earlier call, on Wednesday, the leaders discussed bilateral relations and regional and global developments, including the Strait of Hormuz, Yemen and the war in Ukraine. Erdogan said Türkiye is closely following developments in Hormuz and Yemen and wants them resolved through diplomacy, and that Ankara stands ready to help revive the diplomatic process between Russia and Ukraine. Trump congratulated Erdogan and the Turkish people on Republic Day and wished success to the summit.
The dinner guests included Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus President Tufan Erhurman. Turkish media reported the leaders arrived at a nearby park in TOGG T10X vehicles, planted pine saplings and posed before replicas of the Orkhon Inscriptions, the eighth-century Turkic monuments in Mongolia, with military bands and a flyover by the Turkish Air Force's Turkish Stars aerobatic team as part of the program.
The 13th OTS summit takes place in Ankara on Thursday and Friday under the theme "Turkic Century: Unity in Language, Thought and Deed," and is expected to address regional cooperation, strengthen solidarity among member states and advance the Turkic World Vision 2040. Türkiye takes over the organization's chairmanship from Azerbaijan. Established in 2009, the OTS includes Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as members, while Turkmenistan, Hungary, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Economic Cooperation Organization hold observer status.