Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday (September 25), for talks that are expected to address sanctions and the purchase of 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 U.S. administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements. Trump and Erdogan - both seen as increasingly autocratic by their critics at home - 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 U.S. and Turkey now both strongly back the central government.
They remain sharply at odds over U.S. 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.
The mood shift has renewed Turkish hopes that Trump and Erdogan, who have exchanged mutual praise, can find a way around U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump himself in 2020 over Turkey's acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defenses. That, in turn, could pave the way for Ankara to buy Lockheed Martin's advanced LMT.N F-35 fighter jets, for which it was both a buyer and manufacturer until it was barred over the S-400s. Trump said ahead of the meeting he expected F-35 talks "to conclude positively."
