Delivered allies: Trump receives Erdogan – delicate topics in focus

“Freund”, “Estimated Colleague” – US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caress in the run -up to their conversation in Washington. For the first time since 2019, the President from Ankara is received in the White House. But the two presidents separate a lot. Your meeting could be about these five sticking points:

The topic of Gaza war in particular has potential for conflict. While Trump is close to Israel’s side, Erdogan is keen on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He regularly compares him to Hitler and calls him “butcher from Gaza”. Before the UN General Assembly in New York, Erdogan once again accused the Israeli government of “genocide” and the targeted expulsion of the Palestinians.

Erdogan sees himself as a advocate of the Palestinians in the Muslim world. He also maintains good relationships with the Islamist Hamas, against which Israel wages war in the Gaza Strip. Members of the terrorist group are also said to be in Turkey.

After the attack on Hamas tips in Qatar in early September, the question arose whether an Israeli attack on Hamas in Turkey would also be conceivable. It could be the subject of talks with Trump whether Turkey will continue to stay in Hamas.

Turkey maintains close relationships with Russia and Ukraine, rejects Western sanctions against Moscow and further imports cheap energy on a large scale. Trump is a thorn in the side that Russia can finance its war by selling energy. That is why he recently strengthened the pressure and recently made new US sanctions against Moscow on hard conditions: European partners-and expressly also Turkey-are supposed to boycott Russian energy and raise higher tariffs to Chinese goods.

At the same time, Turkey sees itself in the conflict as a mediator. She was hosting peace negotiations several times. Erdogan also wants to be hosting for direct talks between Trump and the Russian President Vladimir Putin. This promises prestige and distraction from a wave of arrests against opposition politicians.

According to Trump, armor will be about the long smoldering conflict about fighter jet programs. Turkey was originally a partner in the US-led F-35 project, but was excluded in 2019 after the purchase of the Russian air defense system S-400-from Washington’s perspective, an incompatible security risk for NATO. Ankara is now hoping for a resumption and also urged the acquisition of new machines for the F-16 fleet. After years of hesitation, the United States gave green light to the billion dollar business, shortly after Turkey ratified Sweden’s accession.

Syria has always been a dispute between Washington and Ankara in recent years. For Turkey, for example, Washington’s support for the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG was always a nuisance in the fight against the terrorist militia. Ankara classifies this as a terrorist organization and offshoot of the forbidden Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK. However, the interests of the federal states have overlaps since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Both want to advance the stabilization of the former civil war country and prevent IS from strengthening again. For Trump, Turkey is a strategically important NATO partner in the region – for example as a counterweight to Iran or Russia.

According to Trump, the sale of several aircraft from the US group Boeing to the semi-state airline Turkish Airlines is also on the agenda. The Turkish opposition accused Erdogan of having bought the meeting with Trump, the tangible political capital for the controversial head of state of bought with a 300 aircraft. Erdogan rejected that. On request, Turkish Airlines said that there has been a long time and there was no decision.