Oh, what love is this!...

Angela Merkel, who led Germany for 16 years and shaped European and global politics, made the following analysis about US President Trump in her book "Freedom: Memories 1954-2021," which she penned with her advisor after leaving office:

"With Trump, it would not be possible to conduct joint work for an interconnected world. He looked at everything through the identity he held before entering politics, that is, through the eyes of a real estate entrepreneur. A plot of land could only be sold once. If he didn't buy it, someone else would. He approached the world with the same logic. According to him, there was an ongoing competition between countries, and one's gain necessarily meant another's loss. He did not believe that cooperation could increase everyone's prosperity."

We also came to know this man through his threats against our country and Erdoğan during his first term.

In his second term, he turned out to be a complete real estate agent and a serial killer. For the sake of his interests, he recognizes neither democracy, nor diplomacy, nor law, nor international relations.

List of His Actions

Let's roughly list what he has done in the world over the past 2 years.

He announced his satisfaction with the victory of the right-wing candidate Espriella in Colombia, whom he supported, saying, "He won in a wonderful way"...

After kidnapping Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife from their beds in the middle of the night and taking them to the US, he brought in people who would work in harmony with him to lead the country. He did not stop there; while stating that he was seriously considering Venezuela becoming the 53rd state of the US, he emphasized that the 40 trillion dollars of oil reserves in this country held strategic importance for the US economy.

In Iraq, stating that the US would withdraw its support if Nuri al-Maliki were elected Prime Minister, he sidelined Maliki with the call to "Make Iraq great again" and installed Ali al-Zaydi, a millionaire banker and businessman, into the seat.

Before the Hungarian elections, he stated that he offered "full and complete support" to the then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and wanted to continue working with him, sending his deputy JD Vance to Budapest "to save Orbán." Vance, who attended Orbán's election rally there, emphasized that they should ensure Orbán's re-election, while he himself addressed the Hungarians from Vance's phone, saying, "I love Hungary and Viktor. He is a wonderful person. We have a terrific relationship and he is doing his job... I wouldn't be making this call if I didn't think he was doing a good job. I am a big fan of Viktor and I am with him all the way." But they did not succeed, and they all lost together.

Another country where he struggled was Spain. After Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez both declared Netanyahu a genocidal criminal and announced that he would not allow the US to use its military bases in the country to attack Iran, he decided to cut all commercial relations with Spain. Immediately following these developments, the headquarters of Sánchez's party was searched on allegations of corruption, and a lawsuit was filed against his wife.

In Armenia, things went as he wanted. Pashinyan, together with Azerbaijani President Aliyev, handed over the operation of the Zangezur Corridor to the US for 99 years, and named the corridor the "Trump International Road of Peace and Prosperity." Following this, he made a strategic partnership agreement with Armenia and an agreement on critical minerals. As a natural result of all this, he described Pashinyan, whom he openly supported before the elections held in June, as a "wonderful friend and leader."

What he did in Iran, which he attacked together with Israel, is well known; he killed almost the entire state and military leadership as well as its religious leader, but he has not yet been able to take over the country or change the regime.

Recently, it was alleged that his former daughter-in-law Kimberly Guilfoyle, whom he appointed as Ambassador to Athens, admitted at a private dinner attended by the Greek Minister of Energy that the Washington administration had a hand in the resignation of the Romanian government of Ilie Bolojan, which opposed the Vertical Gas Corridor project supported by the US and the pressures to purchase American liquefied natural gas (LNG) at high prices, and threatened that they could do the same in every country they wanted, even in Greece.

When Biden Said "Let's Support the Opposition"

While Trump was doing all this, let us note that the AKP government, which has always defended national will, independence, sovereignty, and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, has not made a sound, and let us recall an event that took place in 2020.

It turned out that Joe Biden, who was a presidential candidate, said the following in summary about Erdoğan and the opposition in a program:

"I think we should take a different approach with him. We should clearly state that we support the leaders of the opposition... We should speak out about the things we think are wrong. He should pay a price for what he has done. Regarding whether we will sell him certain weapons, he should pay a price. Especially when we consider that they have air defense systems that they are trying to solve by flying F-15s over them. I am very concerned about these. If we had continued to engage with him directly as I did, if we had pressured Erdoğan and supported the elements still within the Turkish government to overthrow him, and gotten something from them, encouraged them, not with a coup, but with an election process. It exploded in Istanbul, he blew up his party there. What are we going to do now?.. They should understand that we will not continue to treat them as we have treated them so far... In my opinion, we have a lot of work to do to come together with our allies in the region to isolate (Erdoğan's) actions, especially regarding oil in the Eastern Mediterranean and many other issues."

Naturally, all hell broke loose in Turkey. The then-Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, "We reject such impositions from the root. It is an ignorant statement that does not know the Turkish nation either."

The then-Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın stated that Biden's assessment was based on "pure ignorance, arrogance, and hypocrisy," and warned, "The era of giving orders to Turkey is over. But if you still think you can do this, go ahead. You will pay the price."

AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik emphasized that if Erdoğan were a President who did what they said or remained silent in Libya, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, and various geographies, he would be accepted as a "democrat" rather than an "autocrat," and noting that Biden's immoral and anti-democratic words did not befit statesmanship or diplomatic courtesy and were an attack on the will of the nation, he said, "The ballot box is honor. No one can interfere. Our political disinfectants are one hundred percent effective against every virus seeking foreign interference."

Although other opposition parties, especially the CHP executives of the period, also reacted, Erdoğan, who stated that the opposition should have responded to Biden before them, said the following:

"It is the exposure of the fascist plans of politicians in America regarding Turkey without feeling the need to hide them. They do not even hesitate to say in front of cameras that they want to achieve what they could not do with a coup in Turkey by supporting the opposition. We have a friendship, man. We have sat down and talked. How can you use such an expression for us? But they used it... This political understanding, which has never pinned its hopes on the nation in any period of their lives and whose eyes are always turned outward, is Turkey's greatest shame and loss... Could there be a greater lesson for those who seek the remedy not in the nation but outside?"

They Do Not Let Any Dust Settle on Trump and Barrack

Coming to the present day; those who even characterize Özgür Özel writing for the foreign press as "hoping for foreign tutelage" do not make a sound about the projects of Trump and his colonial governor Tom Barrack, not only regarding other countries but also our own country.

Yes, Trump's love for Erdoğan is well known; he voices this at every opportunity and cannot get enough of praising him.

But for example, there are also these:

Once, for Erdoğan, he used expressions like, "He needs some things. We also need some things and we will reach a result... If I ask, he will do it," and asked him to stop buying oil and natural gas from Russia...

Before making an agreement regarding the F-35s, he said that "Erdoğan would also do something for them"...

He shared a map with "United States of the Middle East" written on it, covering regions from Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia...

Let's assume that the meeting between Erdoğan and Trump three days before the detention of Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, and Trump's Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff describing this meeting as "magnificent" and "transformational" and saying, "Right now, a lot of positive news is coming from Turkey as a result of that meeting. I think you will see this in the news in the coming days,"

Or that the meeting between Erdoğan and Trump again before the absolute nullity decision regarding the CHP was purely a coincidence.

Didn't Tom Barrack explain the following just before the Erdoğan-Trump White House meeting last year, after stating that they had been dealing with issues like S-400s, F-35s, and F-16s for 10 years and that Trump had put forward a new approach to overcome the controversial topics between the two countries?

"Our President said, 'I'm tired of this, let's take a bold step at the level of relations and give him what he needs.' When I asked, 'Okay Mr. President, what does he need?', he said, 'legitimacy.' He is a very smart person. The issue is not borders, S-400s, or F-16s. The issue is legitimacy. [Erdoğan] has reached the age of 71. [Turkey] is a democracy, but like an authoritarian one. President Trump ingeniously said, 'I must give him legitimacy as a solution.' This is happening right now. I think you will see big changes as a result of this."

You must have heard Trump's latest bombshell from the other day. When asked about the process of lifting the CAATSA sanctions, which he said "we will cancel, okay?" at the NATO Summit in July, after replying "There is no delay," he said, "President Erdoğan is my friend and I will always make him happy."

What kind of friendship and love is this; he does not meet any of Turkey's demands, but for some reason, he talks about "always making Erdoğan happy."

What could he mean by "happiness"?!

And furthermore, are our officials aware that, according to the latest poll, the Turkish Nation sees the US as a threat and an unfriendly country with 70.5 percent, right after Israel?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

October 4, 2026