ANKARA / AA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the sidelines of the 36th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), hosted by Turkey at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara.

The meeting took place as part of Erdogan's bilateral talks on Wednesday during the summit, where he held a closed-door meeting with Merz, according to an AA correspondent.

Photo: Utku Uçrak/AA

Alongside President Erdogan, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and Deputy Chairman of the Justice and Development Party and its spokesman Omer Celik.

Also present were Head of the Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications Burhanuddin Duran, and the President's senior advisor for foreign policy and security, Akif Cagatay Kilic.

Turkey hosted the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, the second time in its history after hosting the Istanbul summit in 2004, and it gains special importance amid the challenges facing the alliance and the global security system.