Turkey wants to be the seventh location for Tesla’s following factory, and President Tayyip Erdogan has asked Elon Musk to make it happen. On Monday, the country’s communications directorate said that during a meeting at Turkish House, a skyscraper near the United Nations in New York, Erdogan directly asked Musk to construct a manufacturing facility in Turkey, Anadolu news agency reported. Musk responded that many Turkish suppliers were already working with Tesla, and Turkey was among the most important candidates for the company’s following factory.
The statement added that the pair also discussed Turkish state and private collaboration with Musk’s firms, particularly SpaceX’s (SPX.O) work on space and satellite development. They also discussed the online economy, though Anadolu noted that the lira’s slide and its vulnerability to crypto alternatives did not come up.
During an electoral rerun that could see him become the first leader in the country’s history to retain power for four consecutive terms, Erdogan was in the United States to attend the 78th session of the U.N. General Assembly. He met with Musk during a video chat on Twitter’s (TWTRK) X platform, where the two discussed a range of issues, including energy and e-commerce, Anadolu reported.
But a high-profile pitch to bring a Tesla factory to Turkey stole the headlines. As the spokesman for Turkey’s Industry and Technology Ministry explained, Turkey has long been looking to attract investment from the electric vehicle giant. “Tesla’s activities regarding entering the Turkish market and establishing charging stations are ongoing,” the official said.
More importantly, a Turkish presence for Tesla would boost the country’s image as a technologically advanced and global player. That will help Ankara as it tries to compete with its Middle Eastern and European neighbors, which have long viewed Ankara’s ambitions in the region not to complement their own but to counter and replace them.
For Erdogan, this is a vital issue. The country is mired in a brutal civil war with separatist Kurdish militants and is dealing with a severe economic crisis fueled by hyperinflation. He has sought to ratchet up nationalist fervor, repeatedly invoking old bogeymen like Kurdish terrorism and Western perfidy to rally support.
If the president wins a second term, it will be thanks to his ability to crank up that nationalism. His opponents are a pale shadow of his charisma and are unlikely to stand up to his tactics, even in a rerun election. But Kilicdaroglu, a colorless veteran of the CHP who has led the party for 12 years, is a credible challenger with a record of fighting for civil rights and economic justice that puts him at odds with the president’s hard-line stances. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Yglesias contributed to this report.