ANKARA
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a new strategic partnership on Thursday to deepen cooperation on trade, energy and defence.
The partnership is backed by a three-year action plan and will see free trade negotiations begin next month in Ankara.
"President Erdogan and I are launching the Canada-Turkey strategic partnership, backed by a three-year action plan," Carney said in prepared remarks during a joint statement with Erdogan.
"It rests on four pillars: trade and investment, defence and security, energy and the ties between our peoples."
Erdogan described the agreements as the opening of a new chapter in relations between the two nations.
"We had diplomatic relations, but we had some kind of disconnect for a very long time now," the Turkish president said. "And today we put an end to it. Now comes a new period, a new era for Turkey and Canada. This is what we're starting today."
The visit is the first bilateral trip by a Canadian prime minister to Turkey, and comes as Carney's government works to diversify trade away from the United States.
"No country builds strength alone," Carney said. "The most resilient countries bring together complementary strengths with trusted partners. Our goal isn’t self-sufficiency. It is collective resilience."
Erdogan said he hopes to increase the current trade volume of about $3 billion to $10 billion through the new steps.
The partnership includes a new defence industry cooperation agreement to connect Canadian and Turkish companies. Export Development Canada and its Turkish counterpart, Turk Eximbank, are set to sign a deal to help businesses collaborate on projects in third countries, focusing on energy, mining and infrastructure.
An air transport agreement will increase passenger flights between the two countries from 12 to 21 per week, with no limit on cargo flights.
Carney said Turkey's growing economy needs a secure energy supply, and Canada can help with natural gas, civilian nuclear technology and critical minerals.
Energy ministers from both countries will work on areas including liquefied natural gas, nuclear energy and critical minerals. The two countries are reportedly planning to set up a working group to study the feasibility of a bid by Canada's Candu nuclear team to build a planned Turkish nuclear power plant.
The visit follows years of strained relations, including Canada's 2021 decision to cancel export permits for drone technology to Turkey after determining it had been used by Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia.
Carney has argued Canada can deepen ties with countries it does not fully align with by focusing on shared interests, a "values-based realism" approach.
"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 Hodgson said ahead of the trip. "Where we have differences of opinion, we discuss those in private."
Human rights groups have raised concerns over Turkey's sweeping crackdown last month on dissent and civil society groups, including the dismantling of 2SLGBTQ+ and HIV-advocacy organizations.
Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa said the government appears to be making a choice not to restrict diversification efforts only to democracies.
"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," said Juneau.
Sevag Belian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada, said any nuclear deal with Turkey deserves close scrutiny, pointing to the previous falling out over arms exports.
Carney is set to meet with business leaders in Istanbul on Friday, and said Canada will lead a trade mission to Turkey next year. Erdogan said he also plans to visit Canada with a business delegation.
The prime minister's trip comes as he seeks to reduce reliance on the United States amid an escalating trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump. e2gold.ca reported in October that Carney and Trump discussed trade as U.S. officials accused Canada of election interference.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by Financial Post, CBC News, Al Jazeera and The Globe and Mail. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.