ISTANBUL (RFE/RL) — After the release of American pastor Andrew Brunson on October 12, signs of warming appear in Turkish-American strained relations.
The head of the White House, though he does not speak of eliminating sanctions against Ankara yet, publicly announces his opinion on Turkey.
“We have not promised anything to Turkey, we do not go for a deal to release captives or prisoners. However, I must say that now I have changed my opinion about Turkey very much, my attitude is very different from the feeling I had two days ago, now it’s very positive, two days ago it was not so,” Trump said.
Until recently, Trump was critical of interviews and Erdogan’s administration in his tweets.
“Turkey has abused the United States’ confidence,” he said in August, a few days after Washington had already imposed sanctions on Turkey to a significant blow to the country’s economy.
US media outlets say the US president was ready to take stronger measures. According to ABC sources, Washington seriously discussed the issue of removing all diplomatic personnel from Turkey.
