Carney seeks Turkish defense know-how after first bilateral visit to Ankara

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is "in need of Turkish expertise" as it works to strengthen its defenses, speaking a day after he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Oct. 22 on what his office billed as the first bilateral visit to Türkiye by a Canadian prime minister.

The remarks, reported by TRT World with material from Anadolu Agency, marked a sharp change of tone between two NATO allies whose defense trade was frozen for years. Carney framed the relationship as one of joint development rather than simple procurement, saying he would "lean towards the partnership end of the spectrum."

From buyer to co-developer

Carney said Canada was interested in Turkish military technology and in industrial partnerships that would let the two countries build capabilities together. He described the goal as "complementary technology and we're building up together," adding that Ottawa was "more in need of Turkish expertise in terms of reinforcing what we need to do" to protect Canadians and meet its NATO role.

He tied the push to a broader concern about dependence. Relying on a single provider, Carney said, is a security risk, and he pointed to disruptions to the Starlink service used in Ukraine as an example. At the same time, he said Canada would keep its controls on exports of arms and dual-use technologies, signaling that any opening to Turkish industry would run through the existing licensing system.

Before the talks, Reuters reported that the two sides were expected to sign a joint declaration on deeper cooperation, including in defense and energy; the reports reviewed did not publish the text of any document. Separately, Canada's ambassador to Türkiye, Marcel Lebleu, told Anadolu Agency that the main purpose of the trip was to "launch a strategic partnership through a joint declaration by the two leaders."

Trade, nuclear and mining on the agenda

The Oct. 21-23 trip took Carney to Ankara and Istanbul. According to Daily Sabah, citing Carney's office, two-way trade has grown by about 50% over five years and stands at CA$4.34 billion ($3.09 billion), still under 0.3% of Canada's total merchandise trade. Carney's office said the aim was to "expand that growing trade relationship in priority sectors."

The talks covered energy, nuclear power, sustainable mining and the defense industry. Türkiye is discussing its planned second and third nuclear plants with Canada's AtkinsRealis, Korea Electric Power Corp. and China's State Power Investment Corp. At NATO's July summit, the two leaders launched negotiations on a free trade agreement, and Türkiye agreed to join the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank as a founding member.

The thaw follows a long chill. Ottawa suspended arms export permits to Türkiye in 2020 after Canadian-made drone optics were linked to the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, and it lifted the ban in 2024. The visit also fits a wider Canadian effort to diversify away from the United States, which takes nearly 70% of Canada's exports; Ottawa has signed more than 20 trade deals in the past year, Daily Sabah reported, following moves such as Carney's recent outreach to France and the European Union. Bessma Momani, a professor at the University of Waterloo, said: "This trip is part of the geopolitical necessity of signaling to Americans."

What it means

Canada is no longer treating Türkiye mainly as a customer to be policed but as a defense-industrial partner whose military technology and industrial capacity can fill gaps at home. For Ankara, the shift turns a past export dispute into a channel for technology sharing inside NATO, much as its defense roadmap with France did with Paris and adds a G7 economy to its list of industrial partners. The limits are clear, however: Carney kept Canada's export-control regime in place, trade remains small, and the substance of any partnership will depend on the projects that follow, not on the warmth of the first visit.