Donald Trump to attend NATO summit in Ankara following personal engagement with Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The NATO leaders' summit is scheduled to take place in Ankara on July 7-8. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that the participation of U.S. President Donald Trump is largely due to the influence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey's role within the Alliance. According to reports from Middle East Eye, Trump personally informed Erdogan in a phone call last month that he would attend the summit primarily to honor the Turkish leader. Fidan emphasized that many European nations view the host country and the Turkish president as the deciding factors for Trump's attendance. The Turkish official suggested that without this specific relationship, the U.S. president might have signaled a lack of interest in the event. The summit is expected to address significant disagreements between the United States and European allies regarding the future trajectory of NATO. Fidan confirmed that preparations for the gathering are proceeding intensively. The discussions are slated to cover critical Alliance decisions where U.S. participation is deemed essential.