ANKARA (AFP)

US President Donald Trump landed in Ankara on Tuesday for a NATO summit, where he is due to hold talks with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Trump will also join an official leaders dinner ahead of the main session of the summit on Wednesday.

Trump landed at 1:51pm (1051 GMT) where he was awaited on the tarmac by a presidential guard dressed in blue.

On his first official visit to Ankara, Trump was then taken to Erdogan's presidential palace where guardsmen dressed in historical warrior costumes were waiting for him.

The two-day gathering comes a year after NATO members pledged to ramp up security-related spending to five percent of GDP under pressure from the US leader.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has insisted European countries are "delivering" by bolstering military budgets and moving to take more responsibility for the defence of their continent.