Erdogan's warm ties with Trump offer Turkey an edge ahead of NATO summit
[July 03, 2026]
By SEUNG MIN KIM and SUZAN FRASER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has berated and belittled many
of his European counterparts expected to attend next week's NATO summit
in Turkey. But host Recep Tayyip Erdogan has drawn on his close ties
with the U.S. president to secure his presence at the Ankara event — an
appearance that may even come with a significant gift related to Turkish
defense.
Trump has frequently lavished praise on the Turkish president, calling
him a “hell of a leader” and a good friend. “I would not have gone for
most people,” Trump said last week. “But he called me up. He said:
‘Please, I have it in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has
to be in there.’ And so I’m going out of respect to President Erdogan.”
Leveraging that respect has helped Erdogan avoid the disarray that the
U.S. president’s absence would cause the alliance, particularly at a
time when Trump has been repeatedly threatening to pull U.S. forces from
Europe and scale back America’s role in NATO, unsettling allies. Trump
has long rebuked other NATO countries over their defense spending — and
claimed last year’s pledge to collectively boost it as a major personal
win — while more recently clashing with them for failing to back his war
against Iran.
But Trump has sweetened the deal for Erdogan by also hinting that he
could make news during his visit related to jet engines and the
potential sale of F-35 fighter jets barred for years because of Turkey’s
closeness with Moscow.
The Republican president's affinity for strongmen leaders has long made
him an admirer of Erdogan, who amassed power in Turkey first as its
prime minister and now in his 13th year as president.
“His relationship with Erdogan, which is pretty strong, is consistent
with what seems to be a pattern of his preference,” said Philip Gordon,
who served as national security adviser for Vice President Kamala
Harris. “It has often been pointed out he seems to have better
relationships with adversaries and autocrats, and he certainly says
nicer things about them than with allies.”
Gordon, now at the Brookings Institution, added, “Erdogan is taking full
advantage of it.”
Erdogan snubbed Biden but bets on Trump
Trump — who is expected to have a bilateral meeting with Erdogan on the
sidelines of the NATO summit — will be the first U.S. president to visit
Turkey since Barack Obama in 2015. By contrast, U.S. President Joe
Biden’s administration kept Erdogan at arm's length during his four
years in office over Turkey’s democratic backsliding and close ties to
Russia.
Opposition parties and human rights organizations have accused Erdogan
of undermining democracy and curbing freedom of expression. They say
baseless investigations and prosecutions of human rights activists,
journalists, opposition politicians and others remain a persistent
problem in Turkey.
Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute said Erdogan and Trump
“clicked” personally during Trump’s first term. When Biden extended an
invitation in 2024 for Erdogan to visit the U.S. after Turkey endorsed
Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership, Erdogan decided not to go.
“That was Erdogan’s way of signaling to Trump, ‘Hey, you are going to
probably win the elections,'” Cagaptay said. “I think Trump saw that as
a giant gesture.”
Trump signals steps toward jet sales for Turkey
During a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte last week, a
reporter asked Trump whether he was taking “a big gift bag for Erdogan”
on the trip, noting that Ankara wants F-110 jet engines and F-35 fighter
jets.
“Yeah, I think so,” Trump responded. “Yeah, I’m going to probably do
something that’s going to make him very happy.” Trump had also suggested
last September that the U.S. could soon start selling F-35s to Turkey.
Turkey was barred from the program in 2019, after it purchased
Russian-made S-400 missile defense systems. U.S. officials have feared
that Turkey’s use of the Russian system could enable Moscow to gather
information on the F-35’s capabilities.
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President Donald Trump greets Turkey's President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan during a summit, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, Pool, File)
At the Oval Office meeting, Vice President JD Vance said Washington
was exploring ways to sell Turkey the jets, emphasizing that any
sale would ensure Turkey has complied with U.S. law. There is
significant bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill to selling the
F-35s to Turkey as long as Ankara is in possession of the Russian
missile defense systems, including from influential Republicans such
as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch of Idaho.
Meanwhile, the F-110 jet engines that Turkey is seeking to purchase
would power its domestically produced KAAN fighter jets. The State
Department last week took a step toward making those sales, sending
key lawmakers a notice that it planned to bypass congressional
opposition to more than $700 million of the jet engine sales to
Ankara, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss details
of a nonpublic notification.
“In this case, the State Department did not even attempt to justify
its decision,” New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the
House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement last week. “It
did not invoke any emergency authority, did not present a written
rationale, and for months refused to make a good-faith effort to
brief me on implications of the sale for the U.S.-Turkey
relationship, Turkey’s continued possession of the Russian S-400
system, and other regional security concerns.”
The relationship between the U.S. and Turkey is thawing in other
ways, too. Earlier this year, the Justice Department dropped a major
case against Turkey’s state‑owned Halkbank, which had been accused
of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.
Erdogan lauds Trump's friendship and phone calls
When he returned to the White House for his second term, Trump
appointed a close friend as ambassador to Turkey: Tom Barrack, a
longtime ally who also served as the chairman of his inaugural
committee. “Barrack is playing a crucial role as a facilitator in
the relationship,” said Ahmet Kasim Han, a professor of
international relations at Ankara’s TED University.
Erdogan and Trump have frequently held telephone calls to discuss
Syria, Gaza and the wider Middle East, and Turkey joined Trump’s
Board of Peace aimed at overseeing the ceasefire in Gaza. Trump
claimed this month that he asked Erdogan to stay out of the war in
Iran and that the Turkish leader complied, though there is no
indication that Turkey had ever intended to get involved.
Trump expressed admiration for Erdogan even while standing beside
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press
conference last year. Netanyahu, whose government is at odds with
Ankara, had hoped to win Trump’s support for pushing back on Turkish
influence in Syria, but instead found himself watching as Trump
showered praises on Erdogan and urged Netanyahu to be “reasonable.”
Last year, after meeting with Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague,
Erdogan told reporters that the U.S. president is quick to return
his calls, an anecdote that illustrated their close ties.
“With my friend Trump, we are opening the door to a new era in
Turkish‑American relations,” Erdogan said. “The process of telephone
diplomacy between us has never exceeded 24 hours so far. When we
call, the other side responds within 24 hours.”
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Fraser reported from Ankara.
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