Anand welcomes Turkish counterpart as two countries explore nuclear deal

OTTAWA — Canada has formally expressed interest in partnering with Turkey on nuclear power, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Friday after meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Ottawa.

Anand and Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan met ahead of the NATO summit, which Turkey is hosting next month in Ankara. They discussed economic ties as Canada pushes to expand its trade relationships outside of the United States.

At a news conference in Ottawa, Anand said she and Fidan visited the Darlington nuclear facility in Ontario on Thursday. On Friday she said she delivered a letter to Fidan and the Turkish energy minister from Energy Minister Tim Hodgson expressing Canada’s desire to co-operate with Turkey on nuclear power.

“Canada is a global leader in nuclear technology and we see significant opportunities to work together to advance not only energy security, but also economic growth and clean energy development,” she said.

Anand said Canada has been pitching Candu reactors to Turkish officials but the discussions are still “in early days.”

“The visit to Darlington resulted following a conversation that Minister Fidan and I have had over the course of a number of months,” Anand told reporters.

“Turkey has interest in the (small modular reactor) technology. It has interest in the nuclear sector. Canada is a leader in these sectors. We will always utilize our strengths, and this is one of them, in our conversations with our international counterparts. And this a conversation that is beginning and we’re very excited.”

The federal government unveiled its nuclear strategy last week.

The plan looks to sell more Candu reactors around the world with a goal of entering at least four new international markets by 2040. It also seeks to “engage six to 10 new nuclear entrant markets over a 15-year horizon, cementing Canada as their partner of choice.”

The push to sell Candu to new markets is an attempt to establish Canada as a reliable uranium export partner and to use nuclear energy as a geopolitical lever.

Fidan said that while his country is “specifically focusing on green energy,” such as hydroelectric dams, that won’t be enough to meet the country’s energy needs.

“Nuclear energy is something that we are in need of,” Fidan said through an interpreter, adding he also met with officials from Ontario Power Generation, which owns the Darlington plant.

“My visit to Darlington yesterday actually gave me an opportunity to see the specific technology in Canada,” he said. “And of course, one of the issues that affected our attention is that this reactor is working without enriched uranium.”

Turkey is Canada’s military ally by virtue of its NATO membership and Fidan has echoed the Canadian government’s argument that Europeans should complement the military alliance without duplicating the work of NATO.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has sought to build stronger relations with numerous countries other than the United States. Anand visited Ankara in March and said Canada is focused on four pillars of its relationship with Turkey: energy exports, economic opportunities and trade, defence and security, and people-to-people ties.

During that visit, Fidan said in Turkish that relations with Canada should be elevated “to a strategic level” to pursue mutual interests and global peace.

Anand told The Canadian Press in March that both countries were sorting out how to frame their ties.

“The ultimate nomenclature that is used to describe the relationship is part of what we are discussing, but there’s no question that we share a vision for an elevated bilateral relationship,” she said.

Global Affairs Canada’s online profile of Turkey calls it “an emerging market of broad interest to Canada,” with opportunities for Canadian companies in sectors such as agriculture, life sciences, mining and infrastructure.

Turkey has helped Ottawa evacuate Canadians from various Middle East crises and bring home activists detained by Israel for joining flotillas that sought to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

The bilateral relationship has experienced tensions, especially over Canada’s large Armenian diaspora.

Canada has long held that Turkey committed a genocide against Armenians a century ago, a claim that Ankara has repeatedly denied.

Ottawa also suspended arms sales to Turkey seven years ago — and tightened those rules two years later, before dropping them — in response to reports that Turkey was diverting Canadian military components to Azerbaijan for use against Armenia and ethnic Armenians.

Turkey has criticized Canada for granting refugee status to political dissidents that Ankara sees as insurrectionists. The Committee to Protect Journalists says Turkey is among the top jailers of journalists under the country’s terrorism and criminal codes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2026.

Dylan Robertson and Nick Murray, The Canadian Press