Media reports say the White House may host President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as the latter was working to secure a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The meeting could be held potentially by late April, Bloomberg News said on Tuesday, citing Turkish officials familiar with the matter.
Erdoğan sees closer U.S.-Türkiye ties as crucial for regional stability, particularly as Ankara seeks a bigger role in mediating conflicts from Ukraine to Syria, the report added. The Turkish Presidency and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.
On Sunday, Erdoğan spoke by telephone with Trump, discussing efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and to restore stability in Syria. He told Trump that Türkiye supported his "decisive and direct initiatives" to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and would continue to strive for a "just and lasting peace," the president's Directorate of Communications said in a statement.
The president also expressed hope that Türkiye’s relations with the U.S. would proceed with a solution-oriented, sincere approach under Trump. On counterterrorism, Erdoğan said Ankara hoped that the U.S. would understand Türkiye’s interests in fighting against terrorism, in a thinly veiled reference to Washington’s alliance with a terrorist group in Syria threatening Türkiye.
The communications directorate stated that the two men discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments. Erdoğan noted that evolving regional and international dynamics require increased consultation between Ankara and Washington. He voiced support for Trump’s decisive and direct initiatives aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, adding that Türkiye has been committed to pursuing a just and lasting peace since the beginning of the conflict and would continue its efforts in that direction.
On the issue of Syria, Erdoğan stressed the importance of restoring stability, establishing an effective new administration, and lifting sanctions to promote normalization. He stated that such measures would facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, a goal Türkiye believes both nations should support.
Erdoğan also called for an end to Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions on the Turkish defense industry, the finalization of the F-16 fighter jet procurement process and Türkiye's reintegration into the F-35 program, underlining these as necessary steps to strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries.
Defense issues have overshadowed relations between the two allies, although they also motivated Türkiye to rely more on its domestic defense products. Still, Ankara hopes those issues will be resolved for the better and that it can integrate defense cooperation with its main NATO ally.
In his first message of congratulations after Trump won the elections last year, Erdoğan described the U.S. leader as a "friend." Although Turkish-U.S. relations were not a bed of roses under Trump, Erdoğan won the praise of the U.S. president, who described him as "a smart guy and friend" in his remarks before and after taking office for his second presidential tenure.
Turkish-U.S. ties deteriorated to an extent under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, who was expected to host Erdoğan at the White House in April before that meeting was first postponed to May 2024 and then indefinitely, although the two leaders maintained phone contact.
U.S. relations with Israel, particularly the unconditional support of genocidal acts of the Netanyahu administration, is of concern for Türkiye. Similarly, Israel is disturbed by close relations between Trump and Erdoğan. Yahya Bostan, a Turkish columnist, wrote in the Yeni Şafak newspaper on Tuesday that Israel lobbied hard to prevent a Trump-Erdoğan meeting. Bostan wrote that the Netanyahu administration would not like Türkiye and the U.S. to discuss critical topics. "The Netanyahu administration was in touch with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to curb Türkiye's influence in Syria. They lobbied for continued Russian military presence in Syria instead of Türkiye," he wrote.
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has aggravated already tense relations between Türkiye and Israel, with their conflicting interests in Syria pushing the relationship toward a possible collision course. Türkiye, which long backed groups opposed to Assad and urged the latter to reconcile with them, has emerged as a key player in Syria and is advocating for a stable and united Syria in which a central government maintains authority over the whole country. It welcomed a breakthrough agreement that Syria’s new interim government signed earlier this month with the SDF, dominated by the terrorist group YPG, to integrate with the Syrian government and army. Israel, on the other hand, remains deeply suspicious of Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, often pointing to his roots as what it calls "jihadist," using a common warped narrative in the Western circles not fully embracing new Syria. It's also wary of Türkiye’s influence over Damascus and appears to want to see Syria remain fragmented after the country under Assad was turned into a staging ground for its archenemy, Iran and Tehran's proxies.
