Erdoğan hails model partnership with US after Trump victory

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed his belief that ties between Türkiye and the United States will improve under the “model partnership” following the reelection of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the U.S.

Speaking to the reporters on his return from Hungary, where he attended the European Political Community meeting, Erdoğan informed about his phone conversation with Trump right after the American elections.

“We had a candid conversation with Mr. Trump. [During the conversation] they were having a family dinner and Elon Musk and his son were also there. We have talked about the election process and the Turkish-American ties,” Erdoğan said.

“He [Trump] had nice words about Türkiye. I have invited him to our country. I hope he will come and we can, therefore, strengthen our cooperation differently from the past period,” the president said, referring to Trump’s first presidency between 2017 and 2021.

Recalling that Türkiye and the U.S. are still at odds over the former’s deployment of the Russian S-400 air defense systems which triggered Türkiye’s exclusion from the F-35 fifth generation fighter jet program, Erdoğan said: “Our expectations from the U.S. as our NATO ally are well known. We face so many challenges, especially the Russian-Ukrainian war and Palestine issue. It is possible to resolve these issues through Turkish-American cooperation.”

Erdoğan also expressed his optimism that these wars will end during Trump’s presidency. “We have worked with Mr. trump in his first term. The Turkish-American model partnership is indisputable although we, time to time, have divergences.”

  ‘We expect Trump stops Israel’

Among the issues Türkiye will discuss with the U.S. in the new era will be the latter’s withdrawal from Syria, Erdoğan also said.

“How will they end their support to the PKK/PYD/YPG terror organization? I believe we will find a common ground through our phone conversations and meetings [with Trump]. During his first term, we never had a communication problem with Mr. Trump,” Erdoğan said, underlining that this will continue in the coming period as well.

On the Palestine issue, Erdoğan recalled that Trump promised to give an end to the conflict in the Middle East. “We want him to fulfill his promise and say ‘Stop’ to Israel. I wish that lasting peace and comfort will be established in the region during Trump’s second term,” he suggested.

Erdoğan said he would suggest to Trump that cutting arms supply to Israel by the U.S. would be a good beginning for ending the Israeli aggression in Palestine and Lebanon. “Trump’s presidency will drastically impact political and military balances in the Midde East,” the president said, calling on all the countries to take responsible steps to avoid spreading the conflict to the outer region.

 Hopes for an end to Russia-Ukraine war

President Erdoğan expressed his hopes that Trump’s leadership will also prioritize ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“Efforts to be exerted by prominent Western countries under the leadership of the U.S. will accelerate the solution process,” Erdoğan said. “We can easily resolve this problem should the Trump administration be in favor of resolving the matter. More bombs, more arms, more chaos will not end this war. More dialogue will pave the way for an agreement.”

Recalling that Türkiye was able to bring these two countries to the same table before and can do so again, Erdoğan stated: “We hope that new beginnings will be made in the new era and we’ll embrace a world where all wars and conflicts end.”