Trump greeted by Erdogan in Turkey for high-stakes NATO summit

Donald Trump received a warm welcome from Turkey’s strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after touching down in the country for a high-stakes NATO summit. The whirlwind two-day meeting is critical for the US, the host country and the future of the alliance that has been strained by Trump’s war with Iran. Trump has fumed over NATO allies’ initial refusal to help in Operation Epic Fury. An aqua blue carpet sprawled over the tarmac for the President’s arrival as members of the Turkish military stood at attention while the Republican went to embrace Erdogan. The pair have a close relationship, and Trump frequently compliments the Turkish leader’s strength, and more recently, his support for the US war in Iran. Trump has remarked how Erdogan has stayed out of the US-Iran war and notably not launched hostilities against Israel. ‘Everything I’ve ever asked from him, he’s done,’ Trump said at a late June Oval Office event. Then the world leaders, at times holding each other’s arms in a sign of affection, went inside to begin the summit. Trump is widely expected to ask NATO allies at the session to increase their spending on defense.

He’s referred to the group as a ‘paper tiger’ that would cease to function without American leadership. He has complained continuously since his first term that partners do not spend enough on defense, since the lion’s share of NATO defense money comes from US coffers. Erdogan reportedly wants Trump to approve US military sales to Turkey, specifically US-made F-35 stealth fighter jets, one of the crown jewels of the US Air Force. However, US law currently forbids the sale of the planes to Turkey, posing a wrinkle for both presidents.

Congress barred Turkey in 2018 from obtaining the bespoke US military aircraft after it purchased Russian air defense systems during the President’s first term. Lawmakers were concerned that Russia’s S-400 air defense system could track, detect and collect intel on the F-35’s stealth capabilities. Officials were worried that if Turkey had both systems, it would pose a major risk to the plane’s technological edge. Trump has seemingly warmed to the proposal of selling Turkey the F-35s.

‘I’m going to probably do something that’s going to make him very happy,’ Trump recently said of Erdogan at an Oval Office event when asked about providing the jets to Turkey on the trip. ‘Look, he’s a member of NATO … some people don’t consider him, but he really is.’ ‘He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,’ Trump said of Erdogan at the late June event in the Oval Office. ‘I asked him to stay out. He stayed out.’

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters this week that ‘we will announce tens of billions in new contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and defend.’ But Trump does not just want NATO to increase its spending. ‘We dont need their money – we dont need anything,’ Trump said recently. ‘I just want loyalty.’ The summit is being held in Erdogans sprawling palace compound in Ankara, and Trump has suggested he would come bearing gifts for the Turkish leader. Speaking Monday on the morning show ‘Fox & Friends,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. not to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, saying that Erdogan ‘calls openly for the annihilation of Israel.’