Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Hosted the Ankara NATO Summit, won Trump's pledge to lift sanctions and reopen F-35 sales over Netanyahu's opposition, brokered Trump-al-Sharaa talks. Israel's Chikli warned of possible naval clash amid Erdoğan's escalated anti-Israel rhetoric.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is consolidating an aggressive diplomatic stretch, with F-35 deliveries underway and a fresh ultimatum to Washington and Jerusalem. The US has begun delivering F-35 stealth jets to Turkey — the payoff from Erdoğan's personal rapport with Trump, his sale of Russian S-400 systems to Qatar, and his turn as host of the Ankara NATO summit. Trump proposed lifting CAATSA sanctions and reopening F-35 reentry at the summit; Erdoğan called the US approach "positive" and said Trump's emphasis on their friendship was "valuable."
Netanyahu is lobbying Trump to block the sale, citing Erdoğan's support for Hamas and calling Turkey's government "a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood." Erdoğan fired back that "the current war-addicted Israeli government must not be allowed to drown our geography in the smell of gunpowder and blood again." Separately, Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Chikli warned a direct military clash with Türkiye at sea "could happen as early as tomorrow morning," accusing Erdoğan of "bigotry" in his Israel rhetoric. The two escalations stem from distinct contexts — the F-35 lobbying fight and Israel's broader alarm over Turkish naval posture — but together mark a sharp adversarial line.
On July 20, Erdoğan warned Trump and Netanyahu that Turkey would provide immediate air support to Iran if armed Kurdish separatists attacked Iranian territory, and that creating a Kurdish state would be "a disastrous mistake" setting "the entire Middle East on fire."
Domestically, Erdoğan dismissed the opposition CHP split — Özgür Özel's resignation to form a new party — as an internal party matter, insisting the judiciary is independent. He marked the 10th anniversary of the 2016 coup with raids on 968 suspects and accused a US general of siding with coup plotters, while a pre-NATO security sweep detained hundreds of journalists, academics, and protesters.
On Syria, Erdoğan brokered Trump's first meeting with President al-Sharaa on the summit sidelines, after which Trump moved to delist Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism. He signed a defence partnership with UK PM Starmer and held bilaterals with Macron on Ukraine and Iran.
On their plate
Trump proposed lifting CAATSA sanctions and reopening F-35 sales at the Ankara NATO summit, and publicly rejected Netanyahu's opposition to the deal, calling Erdoğan a friend. Erdoğan called the US approach 'positive' and confirmed ongoing discussions about returning to the F-35 program. A condition — divesting Russian S-400s via a sale to Qatar — has been technically settled but still requires Russian re-export consent, which the Kremlin calls 'an extremely sensitive issue.' Erdoğan's only public comment on the S-400 transfer was 'Keep watching us.'
Erdoğan is maintaining a sharp adversarial posture toward Israel, characterizing 'Zionist ideology' as 'based on genocide, occupation and expansion' while keeping low-level air-force deconfliction channels open over Syria. Netanyahu is actively lobbying Washington to block F-35 sales, citing Erdoğan's support for Hamas and calling his government 'a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood.' Israel's Diaspora Minister Chikli separately warned of a possible naval clash with Türkiye 'as early as tomorrow morning,' accusing Erdoğan of 'bigotry.' Erdoğan also accused Israel of sabotaging the US-Iran ceasefire deal, declaring 'If peace comes to our region, it will come despite Israel.'
Erdoğan brokered the first Trump–al-Sharaa meeting on the Ankara summit sidelines, producing Trump's notification to Congress to delist Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism — a key step toward reintegrating al-Sharaa's government. He condemned joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei as violations of international law and urged regional cooperation to preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire. On July 20 he issued an ultimatum: Turkey would air-defend Iran if Kurdish separatists attacked Iranian territory, and a Kurdish state would set 'the entire Middle East on fire.'
Erdoğan launched a nationwide 'great purification' sweep arresting 968 FETO suspects on July 13, framing the operation as 'a great gift from God' enabling the purging of the armed forces. At the 10th anniversary commemoration of the failed 2016 coup, he accused a US general of siding with coup plotters. A pre-NATO security sweep detained hundreds of journalists, academics, lawyers, and anti-NATO protesters, with Human Rights Watch calling it 'ruthless intolerance of freedom of speech and assembly.'
Erdoğan continues to oppose Cypriot reunification, advocating a two-state settlement based on sovereign equality, as UN Secretary-General Guterres arrived on the island to revive stalled talks. Cyprus's President Christodoulides is conditioning any EU-Turkey progress — including the customs union and SAFE program — on substantive movement on the Cyprus problem, proposing an informal multilateral meeting next month. Erdoğan met von der Leyen and Costa at the NATO summit and separately negotiated a 15-month freeze of the Botas-Bulgargaz gas contract with Bulgaria's Radev, linking energy cooperation to the customs union agenda.
Key relationships
Netanyahu is actively lobbying Washington to block F-35 sales to Turkey, citing Erdoğan's support for Hamas and Israel's qualitative military edge, calling Turkey's government 'a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood.' Erdoğan fired back that the 'war-addicted Israeli government' must not be allowed to drown the region in blood.
Erdoğan hosted Trump at the Ankara NATO Summit and leveraged their personal rapport to secure a pledge to lift CAATSA sanctions and reopen F-35 sales. Trump publicly rejected Netanyahu's opposition to the sale and called Erdoğan 'a great leader, a very strong man, with a very good military.'
Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Chikli publicly warned that a direct military clash with Türkiye at sea 'could happen as early as tomorrow morning,' accusing Erdoğan of 'bigotry' in his rhetoric toward Israel.
Erdoğan signed a Security and Defence Partnership with UK PM Starmer on July 8, institutionalizing cooperation on defense industry, cybersecurity, counter-terrorism, and space, building on Turkey's purchase of Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
Erdoğan hosted Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir for high-level defense talks in Ankara on July 13-14, covering F-16 upgrades, corvette warship construction, and a target of $5 billion in bilateral trade.
Erdoğan held a bilateral meeting with Macron at the NATO Summit discussing the Ukraine war, Iran developments, and bilateral trade targets, stressing that strengthening NATO's European pillar was important for preserving the transatlantic bond.
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