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"Without permission, I walked down the hall and tried to push open the door of the room that Erdogan and the vice president were meeting in. It was locked. I then told my counterpart that we were going to break through the door."
There was possibly some level of exaggeration in Mike Pompeo's memoir “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love” when describing the 2019 meeting between former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and President Erdogan in Ankara.
According to Pompeo, Erdogan had asked for a brief one-on-one meeting with Pence during Türkiye's operation in Syria, but when the meeting took hours, Pompeo felt compelled to check on the vice president and “save him” from the Turkish president. President Erdogan can be “annoyingly persistent” as he always tries to get what he wants, especially with regards to Türkiye's security issues. Americans are equally annoying when evaluating Türkiye's national security concerns. A tough marriage since the 50s.
Now, Erdogan is scheduled to visit the White House on Sept. 25. Many issues have been partially solved since then. In 2019, Americans were forced to make a choice: support their longstanding ally Türkiye, or the terror-affiliated SDF. As always, they were not able to make a clear choice, and Türkiye advanced into SDF-held territories by seizing large chunks of land, while U.S. rhetoric suggested it had not abandoned its Kurdish allies. Kudos.
Now, in 2025, the U.S. should make it clear if it wants a unified Syria in the face of Israel's destabilizing attacks and SDF's delaying tactics while Syria’s leader pushes for the country's unification. The March 10 deal has yet to be implemented. Now, we are witnessing increasingly tough statements from the foreign minister, and the president targeting SDF. Syrian Kurds view Türkiye's internal peace process as a weakness, and believe that Türkiye would dare not launch an attack that could disrupt its own internal peace.
Despite all the heightened tension, Erdogan is not likely to discuss such complex political issues with Trump as he is proven to be a quasi-disaster in contemplating such regional rivalries, and geopolitical issues. He often misrepresents such complex issues, misquotes leaders, and embarrasses them in front of cameras.
Instead, the visit is likely to focus on trade and military acquisitions. Türkiye has known military needs for both short and long term. The engines of the national combat aircraft KAAN, which will use the F110GE-129, and of HURJET, which will use the F404 are of high importance. Approval on this matter is expected to come from the U.S. government. Another pending issue is the T-70 helicopter project with Sikorsky. Of the three packages of helicopters to be procured, only the first has been completed.
After Türkiye was removed from the F-35 program by Trump in 2019, the agenda shifted toward acquiring the F-16 Block 70s in return for the payments made, with the possibility of later returning to the F-35 program. Erdogan will definitely discuss the issue in depth.
Before Erdogan’s visit was announced, Turkish opposition leader Ozgur Ozel accused the president of arranging the visit by guaranteeing the acquisition of 300 Boeing planes to President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. in a secret Istanbul meeting.
Turkish Airlines’ Boeing acquisition has been on the table for at least two years. Turkish Airlines CEO Ahmet Bolat confirmed the intention last year in June, and said that they expect some financial improvements with regards to Boeing’s offer. In December 2023, Turkish Airlines placed the largest aircraft order in its history with Airbus, totaling 355 planes including options. Following this agreement, attention then turned to Boeing, with negotiations already underway. In short, this issue has a long history and is far from the conspiracy the opposition leader makes it out to be.
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