36th NATO Summit Opens in Ankara — Trump, Zelenskyy Among Attendees

The 36th NATO Summit opened in Ankara on July 7, 2026 at President Erdoğan's Presidential Complex — only the second time Türkiye has hosted alliance leaders after the 2004 Istanbul summit. All 32 NATO member-state leaders attended alongside non-alliance guests Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Defense spending topped the agenda, with members committing to invest 5% of GDP in defense by 2035. Erdoğan held bilateral meetings with US President Trump, French President Macron, Finnish President Stubb, Slovak President Pellegrini and German Chancellor Merz, using the summit to press Türkiye's case as an indispensable NATO power controlling the Bosphorus Strait, İncirlik airbase access and NATO's second-largest standing military.