Turkish Media Presents Erdogan’s White House Visit as Victory Over Trump

Senate backs off sanctions on Turkey


President Trump was very big on making Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan feel as welcome as possible at the White House. Turkish media outlets are taking notice, and presenting this as a sign of victory over Trump on the Syria issue.

Erdogan’s report that he gave Trump’s letter back to him on the visit and Trump remained silent was a big talking point in the Turkish press, suggesting Trump is aggressively backing down.

Erdogan also emphasized how “impressed” Trump was with a video he brought to show him. The video focused on the Kurds being terrorists, which US officials presented as a propaganda video.

Turkey’s big “win” here may have come out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) announced he now opposes the idea of passing a sanctions bill against Turkey to accompany the House version. Analysts are saying it is very unlikely that this will mean the Senate getting through the matter.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.