On September 27-29, 2018, President Erdoğan made a state visit to Germany and met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The leaders addressed bilateral cooperation in political, economic, security, defense, cultural and social areas and discussed several regional and global issues.
On November 22, 2018, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu hosted the Turkey-EU High Level Political Dialogue Meeting, attended by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. During the joint press conference after the meeting, Minister Çavuşoğlu stated that all aspects of Turkey’s relations with the EU were discussed at the meeting.
United States
On January 3, 2018, a jury in New York federal court found Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank, guilty on charges that included bank fraud, conspiracies to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran and to commit money laundering. He was found not guilty on a money laundering charge. In a statement made after the verdict, counsel for Mehmet Hakan Atilla announced their intent to appeal. Mehmet Hakan Atilla’s sentencing, originally set for April 11, 2018, was first postponed to May 7, 2018 and then to May 16, 2018. On May 16, 2018, a New York judge sentenced Mehmet Hakan Atilla to 32 months in prison for his participation in a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.
On February 15-16, 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made an official visit to Turkey and had several meetings with President Erdoğan and Minister Çavuşoğlu to discuss prominent issues in the public agenda of Turkey-U.S. relations. According to the joint statement released after the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their mutual commitment to each other’s security and defense.
On June 3-4, 2018, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. During the meeting, the leaders discussed Turkey-U.S. bilateral relations, matters related to the presence of the PYD/YPG and the PKK terrorist groups in the Syrian city of Manbij and other regional matters. According to the joint statement released after the meeting, the ministers endorsed a road map and underlined their commitment to its implementation.
On July 25, 2018, American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who had been held in detention in Turkey on charges of committing crimes including spying for the PKK terror group and FETÖ, was moved from prison to house arrest, in accordance with a Turkish court ruling. In response to the detention of Brunson, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Turkey’s Ministers of Justice and Interior. On August 3, 2018, President Erdoğan ordered authorities to freeze the assets of two U.S. officials in Turkey. On August 10, 2018, Donald Trump announced on Twitter a doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum against Turkey. On October 12, 2018, Brunson was sentenced to three years and one and a half months in prison, but his sentence was reduced to time served, he was released and his travel ban was lifted. On November 2, 2018, the U.S lifted sanctions on Turkey’s Ministers of Justice and Interior. The U.S. Treasury Department announced that the blacklistings of Abdulhamit Gul and Suleyman Soylu have been lifted. Shortly after, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement that Turkey lifted sanctions on U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
On November 5, 2018, the United States granted waivers to eight countries, including Turkey, allowing them to temporarily continue buying Iranian oil.
On January 3, 2019, Representatives of Turkey’s foreign and defense ministries and the Defense Industry Presidency met with a visiting U.S. delegation in Ankara. In the meeting, the U.S. presented its proposal to Turkey for the sale of a Patriot missile system.
Russia
On April 3, 2018, President Erdoğan met in Ankara with President Putin, who came to Turkey to attend the Trilateral Summit on Syria and the 7th meeting of the Turkey-Russia High-Level Cooperation Council. During the press conference following the meeting, President Erdoğan stated that they discussed political, military, commercial, economic and cultural aspects of the bilateral relations between the two countries in the meeting.
On August 13-14, 2018 and on August 23-25, 2018, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov officially met and discussed bilateral issues as well as regional matters, particularly Syria.
On September 17, 2018, Turkey and Russia agreed to create a demilitarized zone in Syria’s Idlib region.
On November 19, 2018, President Erdoğan and President Putin met in Istanbul and attended the ceremony for the completion of the offshore section of the TurkStream Gas Pipeline Project.