US President Donald Trump is heading to Turkey for the annual Nato summit on Tuesday, where he is expected to kick off his trip with a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and cap off the summit with a sit-down with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday.
Building on personal relationships - especially where his predecessor Joe Biden may have failed - is what Trump does best.
The US president has made no secret of his admiration for both regional leaders, calling Erdogan "strong" and Sharaa "tough". He has also warmly credited the Turkish president with Sharaa's rise to power after Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow in December 2024.
The sentiments have in many ways defied longstanding US policy among both Republicans and Democrats, given Erdogan's crackdown on dissent in his own country, his support for Palestinian factions in Gaza, and Sharaa's past as a US-designated terrorist.
Trump, however, has praised Erdogan and Sharaa while berating most of the European leaders attending this week's summit.
