Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday after arriving in İstanbul on a surprise visit, officials said.
Rodríguez, who has led Venezuela since US forces captured former socialist president Nicolás Maduro in January, arrived in İstanbul late Sunday after a five-day visit to India.
Her arrival was announced on X by Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, who said she had come at Erdoğan’s invitation.
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın @RTErdogan'ın daveti üzerine ülkemize gelen Venezuela Geçici Devlet Başkanı Sayın Delcy Rodriguez’i İstanbul’da karşıladık. pic.twitter.com/Yy4tI3G27a
— Alparslan Bayraktar (@aBayraktar1) June 7, 2026
Rodríguez and Erdoğan were scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. local time (1430 GMT) at Dolmabahçe Palace on the shores of the Bosporus, the presidency said.
Turkey has strong ties with oil-rich Venezuela, and Erdoğan had close relations with the governments of late socialist leader Hugo Chávez and his successor, Maduro.
In recent years, Turkey has signed a number of agreements with Venezuela in the fields of defense, energy, tourism and agriculture.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but years of corruption, underinvestment and mismanagement have led to a dramatic collapse in production.
The situation worsened after a US oil embargo in 2019, although Washington eased sanctions after Maduro’s capture and Rodríguez has since pushed through reforms opening up the oil industry to private capital.
© Agence France-Presse