President Donald Trump, during a phone interview with Fox News, bragged about his relationship with Turkey’s dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying that he “gets along with him” and proclaiming that Trump is the only world leader Erdogan listens to.
Trump claimed that certain “world leaders” called him to ask him for “help with Turkey” because he was the only one Erdogan will listen to. “Not because of the United States,” Trump told the reporters at Fox & Friends, where he phones in often, but because of him, personally and his personality.
“You’re the only one he will listen to,” Trump claims the “world leaders” told him without going into any detail about why he was called to assist.
The interview came during heightened tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean as Turkish ships have violated Greek territorial waters, placing Greek military forces on high alert and foreign countries like France sending fighter jets and naval vessels to support Greece.
The interview comes in stark contrast to a video that went viral in Turkey that showed Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden, calling out Erdogan as an autocrat and suggesting that the United States needed to take a different approach to its relations with Turkey.
Turkish presidential adviser Ibrahim Kalin slammed Biden on August 16, accusing him of ignorance, arrogance and hypocrisy.
“The days of ordering Turkey around are over,” he tweeted. “But if you still think you can, be our guest. You will pay the price.”
Watch the clip of Trump’s interview with Fox & Friends
