Erdoğan Defies Trump. So Why Do They Get Along?
He defied the United States repeatedly, bought Russian weapons, and assaulted American partners in Syria. Now Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is headed to the White House for a meeting with Donald Trump. So will he get away with it? Probably.
The past few years show a pretty clear pattern: When Turkey released the detained American pastor Andrew Brunson, Trump he’d imposed to get Brunson back; when Turkey insisted it would move forward with the purchase of a Russian air-defense system, Trump demurred from imposing retaliatory sanctions mandated by U.S. law. And despite the bipartisan outcry over Turkey’s move against Kurdish forces in Syria, Turkey for the incursion, lifted that punishment after getting a cease-fire that left most of Turkey’s gains in place. Senators are complaining about reports that even that agreement is being violated, but so far the administration is still “” the situation.
