Erdogan is not going to the EPC Summit in Moldova

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not be traveling to Moldova for the European Summit.

This was reported by Politico.

According to three anonymous sources involved in the summit preparations, Erdogan backed out of participation at the last minute. The so-called European Political Community (EPC) is a new collective that was formed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The main objective of the summit is to unite European leaders beyond the EU.

This time, more than 40 European leaders will be present at the summit, including those from all 27 EU countries, as well as countries outside the EU, such as the United Kingdom and Western Balkan countries. Tomorrow's leaders' meeting will be the second one following the inaugural meeting in Prague in October of last year.

Erdogan was present at that summit in the Czech capital but had a dispute with his Greek colleague Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a lunch at the end of the summit.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for two decades, won the country's elections last Sunday despite strong results from the opposition coalition.

According to preliminary data, after counting over 99% of the ballot boxes, he won in the second round of voting with 52% of the votes against the opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu's 48%.

Erdogan announced his victory in front of his residence in Istanbul, singing his campaign song before his speech. 

"I thank our nation, which has entrusted us to lead for the next five years," he said. It is expected that the 69-year-old leader will announce his new cabinet on Friday. European leaders began arriving in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, on Wednesday ahead of the summit, which takes place at a castle and winery located 35 kilometers from the city.

It was previously known that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may visit Turkey.

As reported by Hürriyet correspondent Hande Firat, Putin will be the first to arrive in Turkey. This will be his first visit to Turkey since 2020.

Earlier, the Kremlin leader was supposed to come to Turkey on April 27 to participate in the opening of the "Akkuyu" nuclear power plant, built by "Rosatom," but the visit did not take place. The publication also reports on the planned visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which will be the Ukrainian leader's first visit to Turkey during the war.

According to the journalist, the visits will take place after Erdogan's inauguration, which is scheduled for June 3-4. And one of the topics will be a grain agreement, in which Turkey acts as a mediator along with the UN.