US President Donald Trump has called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a “tough cookie” and said NATO allies have trouble dealing with him, telling Politico that other leaders ask Trump to call Erdoğan when they have a problem with Turkey.
Asked if there are countries in NATO that should not be in the alliance, Trump replied in the Politico video interview that “there are countries that are difficult for NATO.”
“Not that they shouldn’t be. I think it’s good to have them. Turkey’s an example,” Trump said.
Turning to Erdoğan personally, Trump called the Turkish leader “a friend of mine” and “a tough cookie.”
“Whenever they have a problem with Erdoğan, they ask me to call because they can’t speak to him,” Trump said. “I actually like him a lot. I think actually, you know, look, he’s built a strong country, strong military, but they have a hard time dealing with him.”
Trump said he acts as an intermediary when alliance members complain about Ankara.
“They asked me to call him and I do call him and I always work it out with him,” he said. “You know, he and I work it out like really quickly.”
Trump also claimed that Erdoğan released unnamed detainees after Trump pressed him in private talks.
“We had some people that he released that were taken and going through years and years of court cases and everything else,” Trump said. “And I said, you know, you got to release ’em. And he did.”
Trump did not identify the people he was referring to, give dates or provide details about the cases. He previously claimed that Erdoğan released American pastor Andrew Brunson after the US president pressed him in private talks during his first term in office.
The comments came in a wide-ranging interview with Politico in which Trump discussed NATO, the war in Ukraine and European politics. Politico recently put Trump at the top of its list of figures shaping Europe, citing his influence on allies’ defense and Ukraine policies.
Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, controls key sea routes between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and hosts important alliance facilities. At the same time, its ties with other allies have faced strain over its purchase of the Russian made S-400 air defense system, its removal from the US-led F 35 fighter jet program and long-running concerns over human rights and mass terrorism trials after a coup attempt in 2016.