United States President Donald Trump called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan “a friend” and said that he is getting “very high marks” in a short press appearance prior to a bilateral meeting between the two leaders.
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It’s a great honor and privilege—because he’s become a friend of mine—to introduce President Erdogan of Turkey. He’s running a very difficult part of the world. He’s involved very, very strongly and, frankly, he’s getting very high marks. And he’s also been working with the United States,” Trump said to reporters.
After introducing Erdogan, the U.S. President said that Turkey and the U.S are as close as they have ever been. “[A] lot of that has to do with the personal relationship,” Trump remarked at the Sept. 21 press conference in New York.
Erdogan, who was in New York to attend the 72ndsession of the United Nations General Assembly, thanked Trump before saying that the two would be assessing the relations between their nations and to discuss recent regional developments in their bilateral, closed-door meeting.
When asked by a reporter about Erdogan’s guard’s May 16 Washington, D.C. attack on peaceful protesters and about reconciling the “Kurdish issue” in Turkey, Trump responded, “We’ll be discussing many issues—many issues.”
On the same day, at least one protester was beaten at a New York hotel where Erdogan was delivering a speech to the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TANSC). One man reportedly stood and began shouting “Terrorist! Terrorist!” at the Turkish President, prompting members of pro-Erdogan crowd to start beating him as U.S. security officers tried to hustle him to safety.