Turkey‘s targeted investments around Greece are continuing, with Tayyip Erdogan and the Prime Minister of Italy yesterday agreeing on a series of key issues. Giorgia Meloni, shortly after her meeting with the President of Turkey, announced that the trade balance between Turkey and Italy—which in 2024 was just over $30 billion—will exceed $40 billion in 2025. Currently, over 500 companies are operating in Turkey through direct investments, while the Italian Prime Minister also announced even larger investments on Turkish soil.
Despite the announcements of trade agreements and the very positive atmosphere of the meeting—attended by half of Erdogan’s cabinet—the Turkish President’s big “coup” in Italy is a new massive defense deal with Rome. Specifically, following Baykar‘s acquisition of the historic Piaggio Aviation at the end of last December, Giorgia Meloni announced a new partnership with the Turkish drone manufacturer involving a multi-billion dollar investment.
Tayyip Erdogan continues to very effectively promote this particular company—run by his son-in-law—which today produces 60% of all military-type drones globally. In this way, beyond deepening economic synergies with European countries, Ankara is also entering more dynamically into the €100 billion game announced by the European Commission as part of the EU’s unified defense framework. Baykar’s deals in Italy and its upcoming investments are set to make it one of the leading candidates for absorbing EU defense spending, as through Italy, Ankara now meets the formal requirements set by the Commission in the draft currently under final review by EU member states.
Tayyip Erdogan is attempting—with great success—to create powerful bilateral relationships that will bring him significant gains, not only economically but also diplomatically. The strengthening of Turkey’s ties with Italy is again occurring in a region around Greece, with all the implications that may carry. It’s worth noting that Turkey and Italy have grown quite close in recent years, especially after the crisis in Libya, with Italian interests supporting Turkish actions and partially promoting points from the illegal Turkey-Libya memorandum.
Also noteworthy is the energy aspect of the cooperation between Turkey and Italy, the details of which have not yet become widely known. However, Ankara and Rome have been discussing for at least two years the prospect of an energy interconnection via an underwater pipeline between the two countries—a discussion in which Athens will, sooner or later, need to be involved.
