FILE photo. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters early on May 29, 2023, following his victory in the second round of the presidential election at the Presidential Palace in Ankara. - Photo: AFP file
JAKARTA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be in Indonesia on Tuesday (Feb 11) and Wednesday (Feb 12) to meet with President Prabowo Subianto, with both leaders expected to attend the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSC) meeting to discuss various cooperation plans and the strengthening of bilateral mechanisms, the Foreign Ministry has said.
The meeting on Wednesday will mark the first Prabowo-Erdogan tête-à-tête since the former’s presidential inauguration late last year.
It comes amid increasingly close relations between Jakarta and Ankara and reports of Indonesia’s plans to purchase Turkish weapons systems.
“The HLSC is the highest regular bilateral forum between the two countries and led directly by the heads of state. All matters of common interest between the two nations will be discussed during the meeting, [including] strategic issues and priorities,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah “Roy” Soemirat said on Friday.
According to an official Turkish statement, Erdogan’s state visit to Indonesia will be the second stop in a three-leg tour that includes Malaysia and Pakistan.
Several agreements will be signed during the trip and discussions will be focused on current regional and global issues, particularly the war in Gaza, it said.
While details of the agreements set to be inked during Erdogan’s visit remain unclear, Indonesian ambassador to Turkey Achmad Rizal Purnama said last week that the memorandums of understanding (MoUs) will cover a broad range of topics including cooperation in education and religious affairs.
Indonesia and Turkiye have seen an increasingly close relationship in recent years, a tie that was also reinforced by Prabowo when he visited Ankara last year in July as part of his post-presidential victory international tour.
At the time, Prabowo served as the defence minister under Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
Prabowo’s July visit to Ankara saw the former military general conduct a series of meetings with Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Prabowo also met his counterpart Yasar Guler at the time.
The Turkish Defense Ministry described the meeting as a significant moment for the two countries to “elevate their defense cooperation and other strategic fields for mutual benefit”.
One month after the meeting, Guler flew to Jakarta to see Prabowo once again to further talk about cooperation in the defense sector and beyond, as Indonesia is seeking to modernise its aging military fleet.
During the meeting, Prabowo told Guler that knowledge transfer in the defense industry must be prioritised going forward, including cooperation for the development of human capacity and large-scale scholarships for Indonesian students.
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has reportedly been eyeing several Turkish defense systems, including the Bayraktar TB2 combat drones that are developed by Istanbul-based private defence company Baykar and Anka drones that are produced by state-run Turkish Aerospace. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
