Trump praises Turkish President Erdogan
US President Donald Trump unreservedly praised Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after a meeting between the two in New York on Thursday.
– Erdogan has become a good friend. He controls a very difficult part of the world, and in fact he gets top grades, Trump stated after the meeting, stressing that the relationship between the United States and Turkey has never been better than at present.
Trumps homage to Erdogan stands in stark contrast to the many conflicts between the United States and Turkey during the previous year.
The Turkish President has been heavily criticized by both the United States and the European Union for the oppression following in the wake of the failed Coup d’Etat last year. Not in the least because of the subsequent arrest of several journalists.
Only two weeks ago, the United States froze all sale of weapons to Erdogan’s bodyguards after several of them physically assailed protesters in Washington last year.
The United States and Turkey are also very much in disagreement on US cooperation with Syrian Kurds in the fight against ISIL. This of course mainly due to the large Kurdish minority inside Turkey who wants autonomy from Ankara.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
