Trump credits himself with keeping Türkiye out of Iran-Israel conflict

US President Donald Trump stated that Türkiye could have entered the conflict on Iran’s side but refrained from doing so because of his intervention.

During a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump suggested that tensions between Türkiye and Israel could have escalated further if Washington had not intervened.

“Bibi [Netanyahu] said rough things yesterday about Türkiye and Erdogan,” Trump noted. “And I said, you know, I spoke to him. I said he could have gone into the war because he doesn’t like Israel much, and he doesn’t like Bibi much, and he didn’t go because of me.”

He added that Türkiye is “a military power, [with] millions of soldiers. Türkiye is very strong. They have a lot of our best equipment. They’re trying to get the F-35.”

“But he [Erdogan] didn’t go in” to the Iran war, Trump said, reiterating his claim that he had persuaded the Turkish leader to stay out of the conflict and portraying Ankara's stance as non-hostile.

“He would have gone in, <...> and he would have been on the other side – I don’t think he likes the other side either, because he happens to be very sane, and they happen to be very crazy – but I think, you know, they treated us right,” he stressed.

By Jeyhun Aghazada