The 2026 Ankara summit was a meeting of heads of state and heads of government of NATO member states, held in Ankara, Turkey, on 7–8 July 2026. It is the 36th NATO summit and the second hosted by Turkey following the 2004 summit in Istanbul. The summit took place at the Presidential Complex.
Infrastructure and preparations Prior to the summit, extensive infrastructure and urban renewal projects were carried out along the primary transit routes and surrounding areas of the venue. Coordinated by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, major road expansion, resurfacing, and intersection modernization projects were completed on the highway connecting Esenboğa International Airport to the summit center. As part of urban beautification efforts, the facades of buildings located on protocol routes were repainted, and large-scale landscaping and smart signaling systems were implemented.
Security measures and protests The Governorship of Ankara announced a comprehensive ban on all rallies, demonstrations, and leaflet distributions across the province, effective from 28 June to 10 July 2026. Extensive security measures led to the closure of several main arteries to traffic, and administrative leave was granted to certain public personnel for the duration of the event.
In the two weeks leading up to the summit, anti-NATO protests took place in several cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir. Demonstrations led by labor unions and various non-governmental organizations opposed increased military budgets and NATO's expansion policies. According to reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and local rights advocates, anti-terror operations and crackdowns targeting protesters resulted in the detention of over 200 individuals, including activists, lawyers, and journalists.
Participants
Country ororganization Head of delegation Title Mark RutteSecretary General Edi Rama Prime Minister Bart De Wever Prime Minister Rumen Radev Prime Minister Mark Carney Prime Minister Zoran Milanović President Andrej Babiš and Petr Pavel Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister Kristen Michal Prime Minister Alexander Stubb President Emmanuel Macron President Friedrich Merz Chancellor Kyriakos Mitsotakis Prime Minister Péter Magyar Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Prime Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs President Gitanas Nauseda President Luc Frieden Prime Minister Milojko Spajić Prime Minister Rob Jetten Prime Minister President Jonas Gahr Støre Prime Minister Karol Nawrocki President Luis Montenegro Prime Minister Nicușor Dan President Peter Pellegrini President Janez Janša Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (host) President Keir Starmer Prime Minister Donald Trump President
Invited non-NATO members Country or organization Invitee Title Attendance Pat Conroy Ilham Aliyev President Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani Foreign Minister António CostaPresident of the European CouncilUrsula von der Leyen President of the European Commission Shinjirō Koizumi Defence MinisterToshimitsu Motegi Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Chris Penk Minister of Defence Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani Foreign Minister Lee Jae Myung President Ahmed al-Sharaa President Volodymyr Zelenskyy President Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foreign Minister
See also 2004 Istanbul NATO summit Turkey in NATO
Notes
References
External links dw.com: Trump set to put NATO unity to the test at Turkey summit (Deutsche Welle 5 July 2026)