The Turkish president visited his American counterpart on Thursday. In advance, the meeting was expected to be about trade and negotiations on allowing Turkey to rejoin the cooperation on the F-35 fighter jet. However, at the press conference before the meeting, the focus was on Trump's statement about rigged elections, where he repeated false claims about the 2020 election – and gave a nod to Erdogan.
He knows more about rigged elections than anyone else, said Donald Trump and pointed to the Turkish president.
The visit to the White House was Erdogan's first since 2019. The US's former president Joe Biden had a strained relationship with the Turkish leader and described him as an "autocrat". Trump emphasized at the press conference that he, on the other hand, "always liked" Erdogan.
Erdogan has received international criticism after several notable arrests of opposition politicians in the country. Including Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who has been imprisoned since March due to corruption allegations that he denies.
