After COP31 leaders' group photo, Erdoğan takes Aliyev by the arm

Leaders who arrived for the COP31 summit in Antalya took a group photo before the plenary session opened. Immediately afterward, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by the arm, while Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also joined them.

RuskiGazeta Editorial DeskNovember 11, 2026, 01:32 PMUpdated: November 11, 2026, 02:22 PM

After COP31 leaders' group photo, Erdoğan takes Aliyev by the arm

Immediately after the group photo of participants at the COP31 leaders’ summit in Antalya, President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev by the arm. As they came down the steps where the heads of state and government had lined up, the leaders spoke animatedly for some time.

The episode was captured by cameras filming the ceremony in the summit hall. The group photo, reserved under the UN program exclusively for heads of state and government, was the final item before the plenary session opened.

Video from Anadolu shows Erdoğan holding Aliyev by the arm and speaking with him as summit participants leave the photo area. At the end of the footage, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev joins them.

This is not the first such gesture between the two leaders in recent days. On November 8, Aliyev welcomed Erdoğan in Fuzuli, where the presidents walked arm in arm before visiting the fortress in Shusha together. Aliyev arrived in Antalya ahead of the summit.

Aliyev and Mirziyoyev in the front row

In the photograph, Erdoğan, as the summit host, took the central position in the front row. UN Secretary-General António Guterres stood on one side of him and Aliyev on the other, with Mirziyoyev next to Aliyev. The front row also included Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

COP31 summit leaders in a group photo in front of the UN and COP31 logos in Antalya

A wide shot published by the Presidency of Türkiye shows the leaders standing in several rows against the backdrop of the UN and COP31 Türkiye logos. Before the photo, Erdoğan and Guterres personally welcomed each arriving head of state at the greeting ceremony.

102 leaders and two days of talks

According to Türkiye’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, 102 leaders from 95 countries across six continents are taking part in the summit on November 11–12. After the group photo, they moved to the plenary hall, where Erdoğan, Guterres and the prime minister of Australia, which is leading negotiations within COP31, are scheduled to deliver opening speeches under the UN program.

The UN Climate Change Conference COP31 is being held in Antalya from November 9 to 20. On the sidelines of the summit, Erdoğan is holding bilateral meetings, including a meeting with Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the national leader of Turkmenistan.

Photo: Presidency of Türkiye, social media. Video: Anadolu

After COP31 leaders' group photo, Erdoğan takes Aliyev by the arm