Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir – Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces – arrived in Türkiye on Monday, 13 July 2026 for a two-day official visit centred on bilateral defence cooperation and regional security. He held a closed-door, one-on-one meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Ankara Airport, attended by Vice-President Cevdet Yılmaz, Chief of the Turkish General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, and National Intelligence Organization Director İbrahim Kalın.
According to the statement issued by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Munir called on Erdoğan and Minister of National Defence Yaşar Güler to discuss matters of mutual interest and regional security. The military said the talks reflected a shared vision of deepening the two countries’ strategic partnership in an evolving geopolitical environment.
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Munir also held separate talks with Bayraktaroğlu on regional security and professional military matters, and Bayraktaroğlu awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal for his contribution to bilateral military cooperation. He was received with a guard of honour presented by a tri-services contingent on arrival, and later laid a wreath at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
The visit came days after Türkiye hosted the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, where allies signed defence commitments valued at more than $100 billion and the host country featured prominently in the alliance’s push to expand industrial capacity. Turkish officials characterized Munir’s talks as a reflection of the deepening defence relationship between the two countries.
Pakistan and Türkiye have built one of their closest defence relationships in recent years, centred on naval construction, military training and defence manufacturing. Under a 2018 agreement, ASFAT is building four MILGEM corvettes for the Pakistan Navy – two in Istanbul and two at Karachi Shipyard under a technology-transfer arrangement.
The two navies also hold regular joint exercises and have expanded cooperation into aerospace and unmanned systems. Beyond bilateral programs, the two sides have explored a draft trilateral defence agreement involving Saudi Arabia, an arrangement that would tie the relationship into wider Gulf security cooperation.
The Ankara trip followed a June visit to Pakistan by General Metin Tokel, commander of the Turkish Land Forces, who met Munir at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi – one leg in a run of chief-level exchanges between the two militaries. During his stay, Munir also visited the Turkish Land Forces headquarters and met Tokel again.
Munir has taken a prominent role in Pakistan’s regional diplomacy over recent months, making repeated trips to Iran as Islamabad mediated between Tehran and Washington and joining high-level US–Iran negotiations in Switzerland in June. A week before travelling to Ankara, he was in Iran to attend the funeral of the country’s late supreme leader alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Islamabad has coordinated with Türkiye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other partners on efforts to contain wider instability in the Middle East. The Ankara visit reflects Pakistan’s continued push to maintain close defence ties with Türkiye – sustaining joint exercises and training, drawing on the Turkish industry for accessible NATO-standard solutions, and positioning both sides for potential collaboration on next-generation programs.
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