Analysis
Meloni welcomes Erdogan to discuss migrants, trade and drones
As expected, no questions from reporters were allowed, in keeping with the custom both Meloni and Erdogan have embraced for some time now.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met on Friday in Rome, at Villa Doria Pamphili, at a safe distance from the city center and any likely protests. The encounter, originally set for 17 April, had been postponed when Meloni flew to Washington to pay court to Donald Trump.
As Ankara’s ambassador to Rome, Elif Çomoğlu Ülgen, hinted the night before in an interview with TRT, trade – in arms, first and foremost – and migration were at the center of the agenda. “We will continue to strengthen our cooperation with Italy, which has made significant progress in the defence industry, with new partnerships and projects,” Erdogan declared at the closing press conference. He also pledged that Ankara and Rome “will continue our cooperation … in combating irregular migration in the coming period.”
According to the two leaders, the talks also covered Ukraine, Libya, Gaza and Syria; on the latter, Erdogan recalled Turkey’s partnership with Italy in the reconstruction efforts.
Eleven bilateral agreements were signed at the meeting. The Turkish president stressed that “Italy is currently among Turkey’s top five trading partners … Over the past twenty-two years more than 1,500 Italian companies have invested about five billion dollars in our country, while Turkish firms have put money into Italy in fields such as defence, aviation, white goods and glass-making.” One of the outcomes of the meeting was setting a new goal to reach $40 billion in trade.
Erdogan also stressed that “cooperation with Italy in the field of combating irregular migration” would continue. For most of her remarks, Giorgia Meloni covered the same subjects in similar detail and tone. She was also intent on drawing particular attention to Baykar, the Turkish armed-drone maker that grew out of an international joint venture.
With regard to cooperation on immigration, Meloni said that the two had agreed that they would not allow criminal gangs and traffickers to move freely, adding: “I think we should be proud of what we have done so far.”
As expected, no questions from reporters were allowed, in keeping with the custom both Meloni and Erdogan have embraced for some time now. Thus, neither mentioned Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul who has been in prison since March 19, nor the month-long judicial offensive against the city administration.
Not once – before, during or after the summit – did Meloni say anything at all regarding the jailing of the elected leader of a city of 17 million people in a NATO member state and a member of the Council of Europe. It’s obvious that the Italian premier does not think this is an important issue to address.
Friday’s meeting concluded with a strong focus on military cooperation, centered on Baykar, the drone maker run by Erdogan’s son-in-law. The “fight against irregular migration” was the other headline item, a banner Meloni had also proudly waved on April 17 in her meeting with Trump.
The Erdogan-Meloni summit also served to announce the two leaders’ intention to continue to incentivize further Italian investment in the Turkish market, which enshrines monopolies across entire sectors through incentives described by Brussels as incompatible with EU rules. Among the most renowned brands, Ferrero, Astaldi, Leonardo, Sisal, Bialetti and Bulgari are already present.
Finally, even Turkey’s long-stalled bid to join the European Union resurfaced – without a whisper of objection or dissent, despite Meloni’s earlier crusade against it.
“For years we have denounced the Islamist drift of Erdogan’s Turkey, which is curtailing women’s rights more and more. This is something Brothers of Italy is fighting for: to prevent Turkey from entering the European Union,” she said at one time. Those words have now been either forgotten or quietly shelved by the Italian Prime Minister.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/migranti-business-e-droni-meloni-abbraccia-erdogan on 2025-04-30