Trump’s Middle East trip coincides with a big week for Turkey’s Erdogan

Trump’s Middle East trip comes amid a heady few days for Turkey, with news the PKK would disarm and as it is set to host delegations from Russia and Ukraine.

AnwarAli

May 14, 2025 - 13:11

Trump’s Middle East trip coincides with a big week for Turkey’s Erdogan

President Donald Trump is the center of attention this week in the Middle East. On the first major tour of his second term, Trump was feted Tuesday in the royal court in Riyadh where he presided over the inking of a slate of potentially lucrative business deals with the oil-rich monarchy. The investment extravaganza — which, because of its many links to Trump’s family enterprises and personal connections, has raised profound ethical concerns — will proceed to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where more deals are in the offing.

During an hour-long address to Arab leaders in the Saudi capital, Trump seemed to skirt some of the region’s entrenched political challenges. He barely mentioned Israel and the unresolved plight of the Palestinians, and spoke airily of finding a new peaceful status quo with Iran. He nodded to a hope that Saudi Arabia would join the normalization agreements between a clutch of Arab states and Israel, known as the Abraham Accords, but added that it would be “in your own time.” And he appeared to attack U.S. neoconservatives — “the so-called nation builders” who “wrecked far more nations than they built” — for a generation of failed interventions in the Middle East.