Biden leaves Turkey and Hungary off invite list for second Summit for Democracy

U.S. President Joe Biden has left two NATO allies, Turkey and Hungary, off the invite list for the second Summit for Democracy organized by the US administration, despite adding eight more countries including Gambia, Mauritania, and Mozambique, Foreign Policy reported.

The summit, which is set to be one of the hallmark foreign policy initiatives of the Biden administration, aims to strengthen democracies worldwide and counter the rise of autocracies.

While the exclusion of Turkey and Hungary may appear to be a snub, three U.S. officials who spoke to Foreign Policy have confirmed that it reflects the mounting concern with the degree of democratic backsliding in both countries.

The upcoming Summit for Democracy, scheduled to take place from March 28 to March 30, will involve a combination of in-person and virtual events in Washington and four partner countries: Costa Rica, South Korea, the Netherlands, and Zambia. Around 20 of President Biden’s most senior administration officials are set to participate.

The 2023 summit will invite all the same countries as the first summit, with eight new additions: Honduras, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Tanzania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Liechtenstein. It remains to be seen whether the exclusion of Turkey and Hungary will widen the distance between the rest of the NATO and EU alliance and the two outliers.