Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker will travel to Ankara on Sunday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday. Their talks will focus on trade, migration, security and the major crises shaping Europe and the Middle East.
According to the Austrian Federal Chancellery, the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East, migration and wider security concerns will be central to the meeting. Because of its location between Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia, Turkey is seen as a country with a key role in regional affairs.
Stocker will be accompanied by Peter Hanke, Austria’s minister for innovation, mobility and infrastructure, and Wolfgang Hesoun, vice-president of the Austrian Economic Chamber. It will be the second personal meeting between Stocker and Erdoğan. The two leaders last met in May 2025 at a summit of the European Political Community in Tirana, Albania.
Austria and Turkey share a long and complicated history. Their relations were shaped for centuries by conflicts between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. But after the First World War, the two countries signed a friendship treaty in 1924. A new chapter began in 1964, when a labour agreement brought Turkish “guest workers” to Austria. Today, around 300,000 people with Turkish roots live in Austria, particularly in Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg.
The relationship has since developed along two very different paths. Austria and the European Union see Turkey as an important partner in fighting people smuggling and managing migration. Turkey’s role in hosting millions of Syrian refugees has also received financial support. At the same time, Vienna has remained critical of Ankara’s democratic record and its long-frozen EU membership talks.
Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger recently called for a fresh start in EU-Turkey relations. She described the stalled accession negotiations as a “stumbling block” and said both sides needed to focus more carefully on their shared strategic interests.
Economic cooperation will be another major part of Stocker’s visit. Turkey is one of Austria’s most important export markets outside the EU. A high-level business meeting in Ankara will examine opportunities in environmental technology, energy, packaging, information technology, chemicals and the automotive industry. Austria could increase its exports to Turkey by about 1.2 billion euros by 2030, according to the International Trade Centre.
Hanke will also meet Turkish Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu to discuss railways, freight transport, modern infrastructure, air travel, automated driving and technology transfers. More than 250 Austrian companies have branches in Turkey, while Austrian direct investment there exceeds 1.4 billion euros.
Yet business cannot hide the political tensions surrounding Erdoğan. Critics accuse him of weakening democratic institutions, restricting press freedom and using the courts against political opponents. The case of Ekrem İmamoğlu, Istanbul’s removed mayor and a potential rival to Erdoğan, has become a symbol of that conflict. İmamoğlu is facing trial over alleged document forgery linked to his university diploma, while the opposition calls the case politically motivated.
Turkey’s relations with Greece also remain tense. The two NATO members dispute maritime borders, energy resources and military activity around the Aegean Sea and Cyprus. Recent Greek reports of Turkish aircraft entering Greek airspace came shortly after a French company became the main investor in the Great Sea Interconnector, an undersea cable planned to link Greece, Cyprus and Israel. Ankara opposes the project, saying it ignores Turkish and Turkish Cypriot rights.
For Stocker, the visit will be a careful balancing act: strengthening economic and security ties with Turkey while keeping Austria’s concerns about democracy, human rights and regional conflict firmly on the table.
