WASHINGTON/ANKARA: US President Donald Trump will host President Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday, where the Turkish leader hopes to leverage the countries’ warmest bilateral ties in years to convince Washington to drop US sanctions and allow it to purchase F-35 fighter jets.
Erdogan’s first visit to the White House in about six years comes at a time when Ankara is keen to take advantage of a US administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.
The administration of former president Joe Biden kept Turkey at arm’s length partly over what it saw as the fellow NATO member’s close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who views Moscow more favourably and has closer personal ties with Erdogan, Ankara is hoping for a better relationship.
Trump and Erdogan had a checkered relationship during the Republican president’s first term. But since his return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria — source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past — where the US and Turkey now both strongly back the central government.
They remain sharply at odds over US ally Israel’s attacks on Gaza, which Ankara calls a genocide — a potential wild card in what are otherwise expected to be friendly and transactional talks in the Oval Office.
In his UN address on Tuesday, Erdogan, who has led Turkey for 22 years, said that “anyone who fails to speak out and take a stand against the barbarity in Gaza shares responsibility for this atrocity”.
