NATO leaders will meet once again in Ankara on 7-8 July 2026. This will be the second summit ever held in Türkiye, with the first held in Istanbul in 2004. Back then, allies were celebrating the enlargement of NATO to include seven new allies, mostly from the Eastern Flank countries. The Summit also expanded the NATO-led operation in Afghanistan and reinforced the alliance’s presence in the Western Balkans and Mediterranean. The 2026 Ankara Summit, by contrast, will have three main formal agenda points: 1) increasing defence investment in line with The Hague Summit goal of 5% of GDP; 2) strengthening NATO’s defence industry; and 3) supporting Ukraine. On all three points, NATO can boast some success as allies are demonstrably increasing defence investment and, as a result, their defence industries are being spurred into action with increased defence production. Even on Ukraine, allies will meet in Ankara with the relatively positive news that Ukraine is making significant military advances over Russia – and quite literally over Russia, when one considers all of the impressive drone strikes on Russian defence and energy infrastructure.
Italian Institute for International Political Studies, July 2026.
Daniel Fiott 