President Donald Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday at the White House, marking yet another important D.C. meeting with a foreign leader for the current administration.
President Trump greeted Erdogan as he stepped out of his car, and the two men shook hands before moving inside the White House for a bilateral meeting.
“It’s an honor to be with President Erdogan of Turkey, and we’ve been friends for a long time, actually, even for four years when I was in exile,” President Trump told the press.
“…He’s a highly respected man, he’s respected very much in his country and all throughout Europe,” the president added.
The two leaders were scheduled to dine together at the White House. They will hold important trade discussions, with a special focus on potential Turkish purchases of the F-16 and F-35 aircraft from America.
President Trump also made a strong request of Erdogan in front of the press: stop buying oil from Russia amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
“This is a tough man, a guy who is highly opinionated,” President Trump said of Erdogan. “…I’d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia.”
President Trump derided the massive loss of life in the Eastern European conflict that seems to have no end. “They’ve been fighting – they’ve lost millions of lives already. And for what? It’s disgraceful,” the president remarked.
The president also said that over 7,000 people were killed in the conflict just last week – a casualty count, he said, that included both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.
“It’s such a waste of human life, and so he ought to stop – Putin ought to stop,” President Trump said.
Despite the tensions overseas, President Trump projected confidence and optimism about making “great trade deals for both countries,” noting the positive relationship between Turkey and the United States.