US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Turkey May 14-16 to attend an informal NATO foreign ministers meeting in Antalya, where efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and boost allied defense spending will top the agenda, the US State Department announced Sunday.
Rubio’s trip to Turkey will follow a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar along with President Donald Trump, where the US delegation aims to bolster ties with Gulf partners and discuss trade, investment and regional stability.
The Antalya gathering is part of preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague this June, where Trump is expected to push member states to increase their military contributions to the alliance.
The informal meeting in Turkey will provide an opportunity for NATO foreign ministers to coordinate policy on Russia’s war in Ukraine, assess current security threats and reaffirm collective commitments.
Rubio is expected to press allies on achieving defense spending targets and reinforce the administration’s position that a stronger NATO requires equitable burden-sharing among member states.
This trip will mark Rubio’s first visit to Turkey since becoming secretary of state.
The State Department has not yet disclosed whether Rubio will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan or other top Turkish officials during his visit.
Rubio’s presence in Antalya is likely to draw attention to the Biden-Trump transition in US foreign policy as Washington signals a harder line on NATO commitments under Trump’s leadership.
The United States remains the largest contributor to NATO’s defense budget, and Trump has made it a central goal of his second term to push European allies toward meeting the 2 percent GDP defense spending benchmark.
Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has sought to maintain strategic autonomy in recent years by balancing ties with Russia and the West, a policy that has led to friction with Washington and other allies.
Despite these tensions, Turkey continues to play a critical role in the alliance, controlling access to the Black Sea through the Bosporus and maintaining the second-largest military in NATO after the United States.
The Antalya meeting will be closed to the press, but officials say a joint communiqué is expected to summarize key areas of agreement ahead of the June summit.