President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday he is confident that long-standing issues between Türkiye and the United States can move toward positive outcomes, citing his close cooperation and strong relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump following their high-profile meeting at the NATO Summit in Ankara.
Erdoğan made the remarks in a social media post after holding bilateral talks with Trump at the Presidential Complex, where Türkiye welcomed the U.S. president with a full state ceremony featuring military honors, Turkish and American flags, and an official reception.
"I was pleased to host my valued friend, U.S. President Donald Trump, who paid an official visit to our country on the occasion of the NATO Ankara Summit," Erdoğan wrote. "I believe we will achieve positive results on many of the issues on our agenda through our solidarity and strong relations."
The meeting took place on the opening day of the July 7-8 NATO Summit, which Türkiye is hosting for the second time after the alliance gathered in Istanbul in 2004. Trump's visit also marks the first by a sitting U.S. president to Türkiye since Barack Obama traveled to the country in 2015.
The leaders met as NATO members debated some of the alliance's most pressing security challenges, including increased defense spending, military production, support for Ukraine, regional stability, and burden-sharing among member states. Trump has urged allies to raise defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, making the issue one of the summit's defining topics.
