Turkey will seek to leverage the warm relationship between its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and President Trump to bridge differences inside NATO during the military alliance’s upcoming summit in Turkey, the country’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said in a recent interview with The New York Times.
The 32 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will convene on Tuesday in the Turkish capital, Ankara, for a high-stakes meeting on the future of the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Mr. Trump’s threats to reduce the role of the United States in NATO — or to withdraw from it altogether — have caused other members to explore potential new security arrangements. Mr. Trump has also accused NATO allies of disloyalty for not supporting the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which many of those partners opposed.
While directly criticizing some NATO leaders, Mr. Trump has maintained cordial ties with Mr. Erdogan, calling him a “friend” and a “great leader.”
Speaking to The New York Times the week before the summit, Mr. Fidan said Mr. Erdogan’s relationship with the American president could help ease tensions within NATO.
“It is just a matter of trust for Mr. Trump, and friendship,” Mr. Fidan said. Turkey, he added, intended to “use this friendship for the benefit of the greater good, for the entire NATO family.”
As a former spy chief and Mr. Erdogan’s top diplomat since 2023, Mr. Fidan, 57, has run point on Turkey’s policies toward many global crises, including the wars in Syria, Gaza, Iran and, most pertinent to NATO, Ukraine.
Reflecting Turkey’s geographic location between the Middle East, Europe and Asia, as well as its open diplomatic positioning, Mr. Fidan maintains relations with an array of foreign figures. He will be the only NATO minister at the summit who speaks directly with top officials from the United States, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Much of the summit will focus on military budgets, with allies expected to demonstrate progress toward the goal of spending 5 percent of their gross domestic product on their militaries. Mr. Fidan said in the interview that despite Mr. Trump’s threats toward NATO, he expected those technical discussions to go smoothly.
“I don’t see any problem on that,” Mr. Fidan said.
“There are a lot of words exchanged,” he added. “But in practical terms, nothing can change. The forces are there.”
He said that among Turkey and other European countries, there is agreement that the alliance is important: “Nobody is discussing the necessity of NATO.”
But Mr. Trump’s persistent criticisms have raised concerns among some NATO officials that the United States might not honor the alliance’s mutual defense clause if, say, Russia were to attack a European member.
Mr. Fidan criticized such ideas as a “structural problem within NATO,” arguing that increased defense cooperation inside the European Union ran counter to European countries’ commitments to NATO.
Turkey and Europe must see each other as vital to their collective security, he said.
“We are part of Europe as well, and unless we come together in European geography to form our security platform, we will never feel secure enough,” he said.
Turkey, which shares a long border with Iran and maintains diplomatic relations with its government, opposed the U.S.-Israeli war and has sought to help mediate its end.
Mr. Fidan was cautiously optimistic that the memorandum of understanding reached between the United States and Iran last month would lead to an enduring peace.
“In terms of political will, both sides are very serious on ultimate objectives,” he said.
He noted, however, that the 60-day agreement left to future discussion many contentious details, including about Iran’s nuclear program, the lifting of sanctions on Iran and the rules that will govern the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Fidan recently returned from a trip to Russia, where he met senior officials including President Vladimir V. Putin. Mr. Fidan said Turkey was willing to facilitate new talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine but did not expect them imminently.
“Overall, the conclusion I reached is that I think they are ready to engage in discussions and talks, but we need American leverage,” he said. “The important thing for us is to see a real and sincere intention and effort from both sides for peace.”
