European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk will meet with Mr Erdogan in the Bulgarian city of Varna on March 26.
Turkey has long tried to become a member of the EU, but Ankara’s human rights record and the ongoing migrant crisis has held up the process with tensions between the nation and EU escalating.
In their invitation to the Turkish leader, the EU officials said the meeting would be “a good opportunity to jointly assess matters of mutual interest and recent developments in your country, including in the area of the rule of law and fundamental freedoms, which remain fundamental to the fabric of and prospects for the EU-Turkey relations”.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will host the summit. Bulgaria has voiced its support for Turkey to join the bloc, insisting that stopping membership talks is “not in the EU’s interest”.
Today’s announcement comes despite a souring of relations between Brussels and Ankara, with President Erdogan sparking up several bitter, public rows with member states including Germany, the Netherlands and Austria.
Formal EU accession negotiations started in October 2005 and have repeatedly stalled. The Turkish government has previously expressed its desire to become part of the bloc, though relations have been fraught since PMr Erdogan saw off a failed attempt to unseat him in 2016.
Hundreds were killed in the attempted coup and in the weeks and months that followed, tens of thousands of soldiers, officials and members of the judiciary were locked up.
The EU has expressed grave concerns over Turkey’s human rights record and Mr Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
And in December the bloc withdrew its promise of millions of pounds worth of development loans which had been earmarked for the country.
However, Mr Erdogan has defended his fierce crackdown and insisted it is necessary to maintain stability in a vital NATO country which borders the already volatile Iraq and Syria.
And despite their differences, Turkey remains a key partner for the EU in dealing with the ongoing migrant crisis, particularly with re-settling refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
Turkey receives £2.3billion (€3billion) from Brussels in exchange for helping avoid a repeat of the 2015-16 crisis, in which more than 2.5 million people applied for asylum in the EU.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mr Erdogan’s government has agreed to take back migrants who cross over to neighbouring Greece and find homes for those who cross from Syria.
EU diplomats say the refugee deal is one of the few areas where the bloc has successfully worked with Turkey after several public disputes erupted with member states and the EU as a whole.
So far this year, Ankara has attempted to improve relations by releasing some jailed EU citizens and cutting back on anti-EU rhetoric.