ADVERTISEMENTTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has sought to position his country as a point of stability in an increasingly tumultuous world, saying Turkey is essential for European security.
Erdoğan also said Turkey is able to span geopolitical divisions over Ukraine, Syria and the recent wave of US tariffs that have sparked a global trade war.
The Turkish president, speaking at the annual Antalya Diplomacy Forum, is facing disruption at home from protests against the imprisonment of his main political rival, Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
“It has become clear once again that European security is unthinkable without Turkey. Turkey is ready to take responsibility for European security in the future as well,” he said at the opening of the three-day gathering.
As trans-Atlantic relations cool under the Trump administration, NATO member Turkey, which has the alliance’s second-largest military and a well-developed defence industry, is seeking a broader role.
The White House has warned that the continent must look after its own security, including Ukraine, and has so far shown no willingness to back a largely European force in Ukraine in the face of Russian hostility.
Turkey has emerged as a key broker in the Black Sea region, preserving relations with both Ukraine and Russia. Erdoğan and Trump have both spoken of their close personal relationship.
“I believe that our relations with the United States will flourish in every field during President Trump’s second term, also with the contribution of our close friendship with him,” the Turkish president told an audience of world leaders and diplomats.
Turning to Trump’s tariffs, Erdoğan held out the chance of a positive outcome for Turkey, which has been placed within the baseline 10% tariff.
“We are doing our best to prevent the heated commercial competition over customs tariffs from becoming destructive,” Erdoğan said. “Turkey will be one of the winners of this process.”
Turkey is also an influential actor in neighbouring Syria as rebel groups it supported during the civil war took power last December.
However, the fall of long-time president Bashar Al-Assad has aggravated already tense relations between Turkey and Israel, with their conflicting interests pushing the relationship toward a possible collision course.
When Trump hosted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last month, he advised him to be “reasonable” in his dealings with Ankara.
Erdoğan told the forum in Antalya: “We are in a state of understanding and close dialogue with influential actors in the region, especially Trump and Putin, in preserving the territorial integrity of Syria.”
Syria’s new President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, sat just two places away from Erdoğan.
ADVERTISEMENTIn an apparent warning, Erdoğan said that “no-one should misunderstand our cool-headedness and our stance of resolving issues through dialogue.”
The president, a vocal critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, also focused on the killing of civilians in the enclave.
“Even if it is at war, does a legitimate state act like this? Isn’t this called state terrorism? That’s why Israel is a terrorist state,” Erdoğan claimed.
