Erdogan, Trump Signal Mutual Understanding on Gaza Ceasefire During White House Talks
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he has reached a mutual understanding with US President Donald Trump during their White House talks on how to achieve a ceasefire and lasting peace in Gaza, according to Reuters.
“Our meeting was very important in terms of putting forth the will to end the massacres in Gaza. Mr Trump stated during the meeting the need to end fighting in Gaza and reach lasting peace,” Erdogan said.
He also noted that they agreed that the two-state solution is the formula for lasting peace in the region.
“We explained how a ceasefire can be achieved in Gaza and the whole of Palestine, and lasting peace afterwards. An understanding was reached there,” he added.
Apart from this, Erdogan commended the participation of Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa in the United Nations General Assembly and described the move as “very important for the global legitimacy of the new Syrian government.”
Moreover, Erdogan’s visit to the US yielded “meaningful progress” in many areas, with crucial talks on steps to foster defense cooperation and trade.
“It’s certainly impossible to resolve every issue in a single meeting. However, this meeting has led to meaningful progress on many issues,” he added.
Frequent Tensions
Despite the fact that both leaders maintained close personal bonds during Trump’s 2017-21 term as president, their relationship witnessed frequent tensions due to certain disputes over US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and Turkey’s growing relations with Moscow.
In 2019, Ankara sparked a sharp backlash from the Trump administration by purchasing Russian S-400 missile systems.
As a result, Trump canceled a planned sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and removed it from the joint production program. Subsequently, Ankara secured a deal to purchase F-16 jets.
Then, US officials have expressed concern that Turkey’s use of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system could threaten the security of F-35 technology by collecting sensitive data that might be shared with Moscow.
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