Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes to the Group of 20 summit in Bali this week with an unexpected boost from the role he’s played securing global grain supplies during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Erdogan’s burgeoning reputation as a power broker wasn’t a given when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, threatening the delicate balancing act the Turkish leader has kept up between Moscow, Ukraine and his own NATO allies since at least 2016.
The Turkish leader faced criticism at previous international meetings for domestic and foreign policies seen by some G-20 leaders as excessively repressive or disruptive. He heads into the Nov. 15-16 G-20 summit while dealing with the aftermath of a bomb blast in Istanbul on Sunday that killed at least six people and wounded 81, with officials saying they suspect a terror attack.
