Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Donald Trump held what both leaders described as a “productive” telephone conference on Monday.
Erdogan referred to Trump as his “dear friend” and expressed support for Trump’s “efforts to end the ongoing conflicts and wars around the world.”
“I emphasized that Turkey stands ready to provide the necessary support to establish peace, stability, and security in our region,” Erdogan said after the call.
“I conveyed that I would be very pleased to host my dear friend in Türkiye at the earliest opportunity, and he, in turn, invited us to the U.S.,” he added.
Trump said his “very good and productive telephone conversation” with Erdogan covered “many subjects, including the war with Russia/Ukraine, all things Syria, Gaza, and more.”
Trump confirmed that he and Erdogan exchanged invitations to visit each others’ countries.
“During my four years as President, my relationship with President Erdoğan was excellent. We worked together closely on numerous things, including the fact that he helped return Pastor Andrew Brunson, who was imprisoned, back to the United States — immediately upon my request,” Trump recalled.
“I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous, but deadly, war between Russia and Ukraine ended — NOW!” Trump concluded.
Pastor Andrew Brunson was arrested in 2016 and held for two years on charges that he collaborated with two groups classified as terrorist threats by the Turkish government, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the followers of cleric Fethullah Gulen, who call their movement Hizmet. He was also incongruously accused of proselytizing Christianity while belonging to Islamic and Marxist-atheist “terrorist” groups.
Critics of Turkey’s Islamist government said Brunson was targeted for his Christian faith. Erdogan openly attempted to use Brunson as a bargaining chip to win the extradition of Gulen, who Erdogan accused of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey from his home in Pennsylvania. Gulen remained in the U.S. until his death in October 2024.
Brunson thanked President Trump for his “commitment and efforts in securing my release” when a Turkish court ordered him freed in 2018. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which had long worked to secure his freedom, also applauded the Trump administration for its “tenacious” efforts.
According to Erdogan’s office, during their phone call the Turkish president urged Trump to consider lifting sanctions against Syria in order to stabilize the economy and help the nation rebuild after a brutal civil war that lasted over a decade.
Turkey has been pushing hard to get sanctions against Syria lifted, but the U.S. and European powers are less confident than Turkey in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former al-Qaeda franchise that led the successful drive to topple dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.
HTS seeks to rebrand itself as a more “moderate” and “inclusive” sort of Islamist government, with promises to protect Syria’s many ethnic and religious minorities. Turkey strongly supports the HTS junta because it has promised to disarm Kurdish militias, which Erdogan views as partners with the violent PKK separatists in Turkey.
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week, Trump made a surprising comment about a previous conversation he had with Erdogan.
“I said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve done what nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria.’ With different names, but same thing,” Trump recalled telling Erdogan.
Erdogan also reportedly urged Trump to ensure humanitarian aid is “delivered to Gaza without interruption” during their phone call on Monday.
This would strongly contradict the policy of Israel, which halted aid shipments in March, on the grounds that the terrorists of Hamas steal much of the aid and have failed to honor commitments to release Israeli hostages.
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