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President Donald Trump arrived in Turkey for a two-day NATO summit focused on defense commitments, with meetings planned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump arrived in Ankara on July 7 for a two-day NATO leaders’ summit, marking the first visit to Turkey by a sitting U.S. president in nearly 11 years.
Air Force One landed at Etimesgut Air Base shortly before 2 p.m. local time as NATO’s 32 member countries and key partners gathered in the Turkish capital for meetings scheduled for July 7 and 8.
The visit is the first by a sitting U.S. president to Turkey since President Barack Obama traveled to Antalya for the G20 summit in 2015.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is hosting the NATO summit at his presidential complex in Ankara. Trump said in June that he was making the trip out of respect for Erdogan.
After Trump’s arrival, Erdogan was scheduled to welcome him with a state arrival ceremony and an honor guard review at the presidential complex, according to the White House. The two leaders were then expected to hold a bilateral meeting before joining the NATO leaders’ social dinner.
The summit is expected to focus heavily on defense spending commitments made at last year’s gathering in The Hague. NATO members are meeting to assess progress on those pledges as the alliance continues to confront security challenges tied to Ukraine, military readiness and burden-sharing among member states.
Trump and Erdogan enter the summit after years of uneven relations between Washington and Ankara, including several disputes during Trump’s first term.
One of the sharpest confrontations came after Turkey refused to release Andrew Brunson, an American evangelical pastor detained on terrorism-related charges connected to the failed 2016 coup. Trump responded by imposing steep tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports, contributing to a currency crisis in Turkey. Brunson was released in late 2018 after sustained U.S. pressure.
In 2019, Trump sent Erdogan a public letter warning that he could “destroy” Turkey’s economy if Ankara did not end its military offensive in northern Syria. Relations between the two leaders have since improved.
After Trump returned to the presidency, he and Erdogan quickly rebuilt their personal relationship. Erdogan visited the White House in September 2025 for the first time in six years.
A major unresolved issue between the two countries remains Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system. The purchase led the United States to impose sanctions on Turkey’s defense industry under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act and remove Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program.
Trump has publicly defended Erdogan over the dispute, blaming the Obama administration for failing to sell U.S.-made Patriot missiles to Turkey.
More recently, Trump has indicated interest in easing sanctions and potentially allowing Turkey to return to the F-35 program. It remains unclear whether he will address the issue publicly during the summit.
The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 has also shifted U.S.-Turkey coordination in Syria. The two countries are now more closely aligned on key objectives there, with U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack serving as a central coordinator.
Turkey hosts “some 3 million Syrians, the largest refugee population in the world and a central actor in the country’s stabilization and reconstruction,” Barrack said in a statement.
Trump is scheduled to meet July 8 with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
The president is also expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before returning to Washington.
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