Hayri Kozanoğlu
Finally, Erdoğan secured the meeting he had been waiting for months and will be received by Trump at the White House on 25 September. Özgür Özel also announced that the Trump family’s heir son, Donald Trump Jr., was recently hosted in İstanbul. It was reported in the press that the purchase of 250 Boeing aircraft and the issue of F-16s and F-35s will also be on the table at the 25 September summit.
In fact, all of this is the price Turkey has to pay for the tariffs Donald Trump imposes on all countries in trade negotiations. The format is as follows: First, Trump Jr. goes to the country that will soon be sitting down at the table with his father and negotiates the family’s investments, hotels, golf courses, funds to be poured into cryptocurrencies, etc. On the eve of the actual state-to-state negotiations, he extracts concessions on commercial agreements that will enrich his own family. In this way, he paves the way for the relevant government leader to appear before Trump with a positive image.
It should be remembered that Trump made his first overseas trip of his second term in May 2025 to the Gulf monarchies of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. It was emphasised that the trip had no geopolitical agenda, and it was understood that the countries in question would not even bring up the genocide being carried out against their fellow Muslims in Gaza.
The trip was attended by dollar billionaire bosses, led by Elon Musk, who was on excellent terms with Trump at the time. As a preliminary step, Trump Jr. had visited the UAE and Qatar the previous week for the family’s real estate and cryptocurrency ventures. It was then announced that agreements had been reached for investments in a super-luxury hotel and tower in Dubai and a golf course in Doha.
We already know that the main thing that sets Trump apart from previous presidents is that he makes no secret of mobilising his office and the power of the United States for his own enrichment.
During the aforementioned trip, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged $600 billion in investments in the US over four years, while the UAE pledged $1.4 trillion in investments over ten years.
BOEING SALES ARE THE CORNERSTONE OF TRADE NEGOTIATIONS
During the Gulf tour, agreements were also signed for large-scale arms and aircraft purchases. While Qatar is known to have ordered 210 Boeing aircraft, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also announced plans to purchase a large number of aircraft.
During South Korean President Jae Myung’s visit to Washington in recent months, it was announced that Korean Air would purchase 103 Boeing aircraft for $3.2 billion, and an order worth $13.7 billion was placed with GE Aerospace. It is noteworthy that the purchase of a Boeing aircraft is included in almost all of the US’s bilateral trade agreements. In this context, Japan ordered 100 jet aircraft, Indonesia ordered 50, and Malaysia and Cambodia also announced plans for similar aircraft purchases. The United Kingdom did not shy away from placing a $10 billion order for Boeing aircraft.
So, what is the wisdom behind always including a Boeing purchase in Trump’s trade negotiations? Firstly, news that 50 or 100 US aircraft have been sold creates a positive impact on public opinion. Boeing is a brand that provides thousands of jobs and makes a significant contribution to employment through its subcontractors. The global aircraft market is already dominated by Boeing in the US and Airbus in the EU. This does not create a debate in the domestic public opinion of the buyer countries that domestic production will be undermined, as is the case with the automotive, steel, and, specifically in Japan, rice industries. The fact that deliveries and payments will be spread over many years does not require a large cash outlay for the buyer countries at the outset, so even large orders are not intimidating.
ERDOĞAN’S PROFOUND AUTHORITARIANISM
However, it should not be expected that the talks between Trump and Erdoğan will be limited to commercial issues. It has long been known that Trump has a good relationship with authoritarian leaders such as Erdoğan and Putin, and that he closely follows their actions in order to establish his own regime of oppression. It is highly probable that he will brief Erdoğan on topics such as how to suppress the media, on what grounds to imprison opponents for insulting the President, how to neutralise and subjugate an independent judiciary, and what measures to take to prevent demonstrations and marches in the country. He will seek the valuable insights of a more experienced, veteran authoritarian president.
You are already witnessing the process unfolding in our country, so there is no need to repeat it. If you like, let us take a look at the similar environment in the US in recent days and compare it with our observations in Turkey.
NEW MCCARTHYISM IN THE US
Using the assassination of far-right Trump supporter Charlie Kirk as a pretext, the Trump administration has stepped up its aggression towards opponents. Vice President Vance said, ‘We will go after civil society networks that incite and encourage violence.’ Trump then declared, ‘We will ban Anti-Fa, which is a terrorist organisation.’ However, Anti-Fa is short for anti-fascist and represents an ideology that reacts against fascism and protests against racist outbursts. It has no central structure, official organisation or fixed address.
Over the weekend, the British economic newspaper Financial Times expressed its reaction to the conspiracy theories circulating, posing the question, ‘Is America entering a new McCarthy era?’ Trump accuses the usual suspect, George Soros, of financing all leftists. As is well known, McCarthy emerged in the 1950s with the claim of a ‘red scare.’ During this wave, screenwriters and actors in Hollywood who were alleged to be communists were blacklisted, and the Rosenbergs were executed on charges of being Russian spies. The Financial Times expresses its concern, stating, ‘McCarthy was ultimately a senator from Wisconsin. This time, however, it is a US president who is making baseless allegations.’
Trump’s targets are not only leftists; they include immigrants, liberal organisations, the media, members of the trans community, and all diversity, equality and inclusion programmes, abbreviated as DEI. In this context, those seen as adversaries are branded ‘woke’ by the American far right and virtually cursed.
As is well known, one of Trump’s characteristics is reducing everything to money, recognising no value other than the dollar. He sees himself as having the right to impose fines indiscriminately on those who do not conform to his tastes. First, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper that is actually right-leaning but criticised the high tariffs imposed as contrary to neoliberalism. Then he raised the stakes to $15 billion for the New York Times, considered liberal, or left-wing in American jargon.
He has been imposing fines on America’s most prestigious universities, which have been staging protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, accusing them of anti-Semitism. Columbia, Brown and other universities were forced to pay these fines out of fear. With the same claim, the University of California had $300 million in medical and scientific research funding cut, and then a further $1 billion in fines demanded. This amounts to a bill twice as heavy as the $500 million demanded from Harvard.
At the beginning of September, an investigation was launched against 160 academics at the University of California, one of the centres where the student movement of the 1960s originated, on charges of anti-Semitism. Among them is the renowned philosophy professor Judith Butler, who is also of Jewish origin.
In summary, as we have previously emphasised, the US is rapidly advancing towards becoming a ‘great Turkey’. There is much to learn from the ‘masterful period’ of Turkish President Erdoğan, who has made significant progress in establishing a new regime and dismantling the institutions of the Republic over the past 22 years.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Erdoğan’ın Trump hasreti bitiyor, published in BirGün newspaper on September 23, 2025.
