Turkish, Uzbek leaders meet in Uzbekistan for talks

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Friday.

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

Upon the invitation of Mirziyoyev, Erdogan attended the SCO leaders' summit as a special guest, with Türkiye taking part at the presidential level for the first time since Ankara got the dialogue partner status in the organization 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 earlier held closed-door meetings with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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