Turkish president, Indian premier hold talks in Uzbekistan

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday received Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, which both are visiting for a regional summit.

The closed-door meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. No further information on the meeting was released.

Erdogan attended the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO as a special guest, with Türkiye taking part at the presidential level for the first time since Ankara got SCO dialogue partner status in 2012.

He addressed the second session of the summit and is holding bilateral meetings with leaders in attendance, including his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

On the sidelines of the summit, Erdogan held closed-door meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Established in 2001, the eight-member organization aims to strengthen friendly, good neighborly relations and mutual trust among its member states.