UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed heads to Turkey amid heightened regional diplomacy
The UAE president’s visit to Turkey comes as Turkish and Emirati involvement intensifies in regional diplomatic efforts, spanning conflicts from Syria-Israel talks to the South Caucasus.
ANKARA — Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed will visit Turkey on Wednesday for talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as the two countries expand their diplomatic footprints in conflicts from Syria to the South Caucasus.
What happened: Burhanettin Duran, communications director for the Turkish presidency, announced Tuesday that the Emirati president will travel to Ankara for an official visit.
The two leaders “are expected to discuss steps to deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries,” Duran wrote on X. They will also “exchange views on current regional and global issues,” he added without elaborating.
Contacted by Al-Monitor, the UAE Embassy in Ankara was not immediately available for comment.
Why it matters: The visit comes as the two regional powers engage in overlapping diplomatic efforts, including back-channel talks between Syria and Israel and the conflict in the South Caucasus.
The UAE has reportedly played a role in facilitating back-channel talks between Syria and Israel since May. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited Abu Dhabi last week.
Turkey, despite its deeply fractured ties with Israel over the Gaza war, signaled tacit approval of a potential reconciliation between Israel and Syria as part of Ankara’s support for the Sharaa government in Damascus. “If the new administration in Damascus wants to have certain understandings with Israel … then that is their own business,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in April.
Background: Earlier this month, the UAE also took a more active role in the South Caucasus as Abu Dhabi hosted talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan this week.
On July 1, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held their first formal meeting in Abu Dhabi since agreeing in March on a draft peace treaty.
Ankara has conditioned its own normalization with Yerevan on the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is the closest regional ally of Turkey. Erdogan separately hosted Pashinyan and Aliyev earlier this month.
Turkish and Emirati efforts to foster reconciliation in both conflicts reflect the regional powers’ efforts to align their interests amid growing instability following the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June that weakened Iran and shifted the regional balance toward Sunni powers.
Know more: The last official visit by Sheikh Mohammed to Turkey took place in June 2023, followed by Erdogan’s visit to the Emirates in February 2024.
On Wednesday, Erdogan and Sheikh Mohammed are also set to chair the inaugural meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council, established in 2023 to deepen cooperation between the two countries.
Trade volume between the two nations exceeded $15 billion in 2024, according to official statistics.
