Erdogan seeks to sway Trump in crunch US talks

Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Donald Trump on Tuesday in Washington for the first time as president, hoping to entice the American leader into major policy shifts to solidify a crucial but increasingly strained relationship.

Ties became poisoned in the last months of the Barack Obama administration by venomous disputes over US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria and the presence in the US of the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen whom Erdogan blames for last year’s July 15 failed coup.

But analysts say that Erdogan faces a major struggle to convince Trump to change tack, raising the prospect of long-term tensions between the US and Nato’s main Muslim member.

Preparations for the visit were inauspicious, with Washington announcing for the first time it would arm Syrian Kurdish fighters who Ankara considers to be terrorists.

Ankara initially had high expectations of the relationship between Erdogan and Trump, preferring to forget the new US leader’s most radical campaign utterances and banking on a strong personal chemistry between the two men.

The Turkish president was hugely encouraged when Trump congratulated him on winning the April 16 referendum on enhancing his powers, an enthusiasm that contrasted with the reticence of not just European Union leaders but the US state department.