Carney walks a trade, defence and diplomatic tightrope in Turkey

Murray Brewster · CBC News

· Posted: Oct 22, 2026 7:44 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes ago

Prime Minister Mark Carney's political and economic tightrope act began Thursday as he touched down in Turkey for two full  days of meetings, starting with President Recep Erdogan.

The two leaders are meeting at the sprawling presidential compound in Ankara to talk trade and defence co-operation.

The bilateral visit, a first for Canadian prime minister, comes as human rights groups raise the alarm over Turkey's sweeping crackdown last month on dissent and civil society groups, including the dismantling of 2SLGBTQ+ and HIV-advocacy organizations.

"The prime minister has been very clear. We need to engage with the world as it is, not the way we wish it to be," Energy Minister Tim Hodgeson said ahead of the trip. He will be joining Carney for talks with Turkish officials.

"Where we have differences of opinion, we discuss those in private."

Carney is looking to diversify Canada's trade to make the country less dependent on the United States. Much of the effort has thus far gone into deepening ties with Europe and nations in the Indo-Pacific. 

Turkey, a member of NATO with a growing defence industrial sector, is seen as a key ally on the trade and military production fronts, says Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa, an expert in the Middle East.

"What the Carney government appears to be making as a choice is not to restrict diversification efforts only to democracies, only to countries that have positive human rights records," said Juneau.

• Carney's Turkish balancing act must include business, defence and human rights

• Turkey's president gifted Carney a revolver at NATO summit. Carney gave him maple syrup

Turkey has become increasingly authoritarian under Erdogan, who has been president since 2014.

"This is morally a difficult dilemma on the Canadian side, but the calculus appears on the part of the government that if Canada were to choose to diversify only with democracies the ceiling for success would be low."

Immediately after landing in Ankara on Thursday, visited Anitkabir, the Mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

The structure and its 750,000 square-metre grounds are beautifully maintained, divided into the Peace Park with tens of thousands of plants and trees including Canadian maples, and the Monument Block. Carney laid a wreath at the monument.