Trump lands in Ankara still furious over Iran. Behind billions in defense deals, allies quietly hedge their bets — and Erdoğan may be the only one who walks away a clear winner.
Trump didn't land in Ankara in a conciliatory mood. According to an Axios exclusive, the president is still angry at allies who refused basing and overflight rights during his operations against Iran, and he's determined to make sure they know it at this summit. Fox News and CBS News frame the meeting in similar terms — an Iran-shadowed gathering, with Trump frustrated at allies who didn't stand with him in the conflict. The Guardian reports that all 32 member states now need to put "clear, concrete and credible" plans on the table to hit the 5% GDP defense target agreed last year in The Hague — 3.5% for core defense, 1.5% for related security spending. Wyoming Truth and the AP note that Trump already extracted big promises last year; in Ankara, he's pushing to turn those promises into actual money and capability.
Some of the numbers have already landed. ANSA reports allies pledged $40 billion over five years for counter-drone capabilities, with a dedicated platform to back it.
Rutte made his announcements at the Defence Industry Forum. The alliance is buying twelve new Airbus A330 MRTT tankers, with the tenth already delivered. Turkey, Belgium, the UK, Spain, Poland and Czechia signed on to jointly operate A400M transport aircraft. Turkey is also contributing two domestically built observation satellites to the alliance's space capabilities, and its radar and air-defense contract alone tops $350 million. It's the kind of announcement flood that backs up what Gazzetta del Sud reported — a Defence Industry Forum capable of tens of billions in deals, with Rutte hinting at even bigger news to come.
The money is moving. Behind the scenes, something else is brewing.
Netanyahu complained to Trump on Friday. According to Axios, the Israeli prime minister is unhappy with Erdoğan's increasingly anti-Israel rhetoric, and asked the American president to rein in the Turkish leader when the two meet at the summit. Just days later, Time reported that Trump reignited his feud with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with a provocative social media post — the second round, after he'd previously claimed Meloni begged for a photo with him. Giornale di Sicilia says Meloni's response was total silence.
Not everyone is waiting for Washington to decide their future for them. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney — the first Canadian premier to visit Turkey in 11 years — announced that Canada's new submarine fleet will be built around a joint German-Norwegian bid. The New York Times says the move cuts Canada's military and economic dependence on the United States. Europe is standing on its own two feet elsewhere too. The Wall Street Journal reports the continent is working to plug the security gaps left by a receding American NATO presence. Alternatives exist, allies say. Still, fears about weakened deterrence persist.
Ukrainian President Zelensky also arrived in Ankara, where Time reports he urged allies toward "strong decisions" after Russia launched another deadly strike on Kyiv — timed just hours before the summit opened. Ukraine's ambassador to Washington told Foreign Policy that this summit matters differently for Kyiv than previous ones. In the background, an ominous warning lingers: a Wall Street Journal opinion piece argues Putin could test the alliance's political will with even a small border incursion — and if that will isn't there, it could spell the end of NATO.
Turkey, meanwhile, is playing its own game. Defense News reports Ankara's alliance clout is rising as it showcases its growing defense industry amid wars raging nearby. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan openly admitted at an Ankara event that simply securing Trump's attendance was the hardest part of organizing the summit. Foreign Policy's analysis is blunt: however the meeting turns out, the Turkish president comes out ahead. That picture is complicated by TPI's report that five journalists were arrested in Turkey on the eve of the summit, while police cracked down on anti-NATO protesters in an Ankara park — among them several opposition lawmakers.