Turkey and Indonesia push a $10 billion trade goal and drones

Turkey's top diplomat visited Jakarta in early June 2026, and the two countries used the meeting to push a big trade goal and deepen defence ties. As Al Jazeera reports, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met President Prabowo Subianto and repeated a shared target of US$10 billion in trade between the two countries, first set in 2025. Their cooperation spans defence, energy, transport, and halal food, and includes plans to build drones and armoured vehicles together.

There was a striking human moment too. Prabowo thanked Turkey for helping bring home nine Indonesian citizens who had been seized by Israel during an operation against an aid flotilla trying to reach Gaza. The two leaders spoke as fellow "Global South" nations, a term for developing countries that want more say in world affairs, and said they preferred dialogue over confrontation on the Middle East.

The visit fits a wider pattern. Since the war in Gaza, Indonesia has leaned into ties with other large Muslim-majority countries like Turkey, partly in response to public anger at home over Western policy. For Indonesia, Turkey offers both a market and a partner in building its own defence industry, without depending on the usual Western suppliers.

Why it matters

Closer ties with Turkey can open a market for Indonesian goods and help Indonesia build weapons at home instead of only buying them abroad. For a country trying to keep many partners and few dependencies, deals like this widen its options. Watch whether the $10 billion trade goal turns into real business, and what joint defence projects actually get built.