Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has described his March 12 meeting in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as producing an “historic breakthrough”, with the two countries committing to work together in defence and arms production.

Amid Europe’s scramble to rearm in the face of potential future threats from a hostile Russia, Tusk said: "We are prepared to work with our Turkish friends in defence and the arms industry. Our cooperation as two strong Nato partners has taken on a new significance today." 

Erdogan spoke of tightening bilateral economic and military cooperation. "Based on over 600 years of tradition, we are today strategic allies who can discuss any issue openly,"  said Erdogan, noting that Poland and Turkey have the largest land forces among European Nato members and are "key allies on the alliance's eastern and southern flanks."

As reported earlier by bne IntelliNews, Tusk stated that Turkey should take a leading role in securing peace between Ukraine and Russia.

Both Ankara and Warsaw sought a "just peace" in the region, he said. The notion of a just peace is important to Europe, which—apparently unlike the US Trump administration—tends to emphasise the fact that Russia attacked Ukraine unprovoked.

Like Poland, Turkey is a strategically-located Nato member state. It flanks the Black Sea—also shared by Russia and Ukraine—from the south. Turkey also has Nato's second biggest army behind that of the US and is a historic rival of Russia in the region, though Ankara since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Moscow just over three years ago has tried to maintain friendly and balanced ties with both Ukraine and Russia.

Turkey has previously acted as a mediator in the war, brokering the Black Sea Grain Initiative to provide safe passage for vessels carrying vital wheat exports in 2022. While maintaining economic ties with Moscow and not participating in Western sanctions against Russia, Turkey has provided military aid to Ukraine, including Bayraktar TB2 attack drones and armoured vehicles.

After his talks with Tusk, Erdogan welcomed Ukraine's acceptance of the proposed 30-day ceasefire that emerged from Kyiv’s talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this week and urged Moscow to follow suit. "We expect Russia to reciprocate this positive step in the same way," the Turkish leader said. 

"Turkey is willing to facilitate talks if both sides were ready to negotiate," Erdogan added.

"A ceasefire, and later peace, is the goal of Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. The only question mark now is Russia's response. Today, Ankara, Warsaw, Kyiv, Washington, and Brussels are all waiting for a clear answer on whether the other side is ready to take this proposal seriously," Tusk said.

Early signals from Moscow have shown Russia is not interested in the proposal agreed by Ukraine and the US.

Economic ties were also on the agenda at the meeting of Erdogan and Tusk. Erdogan reported that Turkey-Poland trade reached $12bn in 2024 and was expected to grow to $15bn this year.

Erdogan is expected to visit Warsaw in April.