Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has not stopped criticizing NATO and its allies. However, one man has managed to win his support: Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he is "very disappointed" with his allies, who did not support him enough during the war in Iran. And, despite the increase in military budgets agreed last year, he continues to claim that NATO costs the US too much.

"If this summit were not being held in Turkey under President Erdogan's auspices, I do not think I would have gone," he told reporters at the White House on June 24, alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Indeed, in his eyes, the Turkish president is a leader who, unlike the Europeans, meets his expectations. In 2018, Erdogan freed an American pastor after Washington imposed sanctions and issued economic threats. In 2019, he accepted a ceasefire in Syria negotiated by the Trump administration. More recently, he backed Trump's Gaza peace initiative, which lent credibility to the plan in the eyes of Middle Eastern leaders. "Everything I asked him to do, he did," Donald Trump summed up on June 24.

Payday

A loyalty that could now pay off for Erdogan. In 2019, Turkey bought the S-400 air defense system. A decision that led Washington to impose sanctions and to remove Turkey from the F-35 program.

Yesterday, during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Donald Trump said he would lift those sanctions and said that he would even sell the country F-35 fighter planes. "Turkey has been, in many ways, far more loyal than other countries we thought would be. [...] It's a fantastic plane, it's the best, by far the best right now. And it's certainly something we are going to look at."

Ankara, July 7, 2026

The US Congress passed a law in late 2019 banning any sale of F-35s to Turkey as long as it kept the S-400s, arguing that the Russian system posed a risk to the US-made fighter jets. According to Reuters, US lawmakers could work around the issue if the S-400s were sent to a third country.

On Tuesday, Erdogan sounded confident about the outcome of the matter. "We have already discussed it with the United States and five aircraft had been promised to us (...). "I know Mr. Trump always keeps his promises."

Turkey has become indispensable again

Beyond his personal gain, the Turkish president is now a valuable ally for Europeans in dealing with Donald Trump.

This is a complete reversal, given that Turkey was long seen as a drag on the Alliance. The Turkish president had notably blocked Sweden's entry into NATO for nearly two years, accusing the country of harboring militants linked to the PKK, a terrorist organization in Ankara's eyes.

In 2019, Emmanuel Macron said NATO was "brain dead." He was describing an Atlantic Alliance going through a deep political and strategic crisis.

One reason for that diagnosis was the state of relations with Turkey, a NATO member that launched an offensive in October 2019 in northern Syria against the Kurds, who were nevertheless backed by the West.

More broadly, relations with Ankara deteriorated sharply during the 2010s, notably after the failed 2016 coup attempt in Turkey. Western governments were slow to offer Erdogan their support. After that, the regime not only hardened but also turned more towards Russia.

Still, recent years have seen the situation thaw. Erdogan has understood that he could not do without Western partners given his country's economic difficulties. Meanwhile, NATO allies understand that they need Turkey. Its geographic position, its weight within the Alliance (Turkey has the second-largest army, behind the United States), and the rise of its defense industry have made it an indispensable player.

As a sign of Turkey's growing importance, NATO plans to set up a multinational rapid action corps in Adana, in southern Turkey, while Istanbul will host a naval forces headquarters made up of troops from the coalition of volunteers.