In Israel, of course, they do not like this, but bilateral relations between the United States and Turkey are very close, long-standing, and mutually dependent. Recently, it was reported on Fox News that Trump is weighing steps that could nullify Israeli air superiority in Syria.
U.S. President Donald Trump makes headlines during press briefings and, perhaps, given his announcement of direct talks with Iran on a nuclear agreement, likely created more reverberations about that than what he said about Turkey. “I have a great relationship with a man named Erdogan,” Trump said, while standing beside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he even said if there are problems between the sides, he would “solve” them.
In Israel, of course, they did not like that, but bilateral relations between the United States and Turkey are very close, long-standing, and mutually dependent. First, Turkey is a country with a strategic location and there is the added factor of the Montreux Convention. Since the convention’s establishment in 1936, Ankara has had the sole authority to control the entrance and exit to the Black Sea, the Dardanelles, and the Bosporus. This is a critical maritime route, all the more so given the Russia-Ukraine war.
Beyond this, in the military sphere, Turkey and the United States are members of NATO. Since 1959, a NATO agreement has allowed the permanent positioning of American nuclear weapons at the Incirlik air base in Adana.
Among the 3,708 active U.S. nuclear warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, almost 24 are based in Turkey. In order to operate them, there are codes assigned to American and Turkish officers.
As for the near future, particularly given tensions between Israel and Turkey over developments in Syria, the most significant issue is whether the United States will sell F-35 aircraft to Ankara. During Trump’s previous term, Reycep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence on purchasing S-400 anti-aircraft batteries from Russia for $2.5 billion led to Turkey’s ouster from the F-35 project and the imposition of sanctions. It was recently reported on Fox News that Trump is weighing the renewed sale of the F-35, which, if implemented, would run directly against Israeli interests in the region and would nullify Israeli air superiority in Syria.
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