US envoy says alliance with Turkey ‘has never been stronger’

10.09.2026

By Turkish Minute

Source: https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/09/10/us-envoy-says-alliance-with-turkey-has-never-been-stronger/

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack said the alliance between Washington and Ankara “has never been stronger” after he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday.

“Honored to meet with President Erdogan today at Beştepe,” Barrack wrote on X.

Beştepe is the Ankara district where Turkey’s presidential complex is located.

Turkey and the United States share ties as NATO allies, economic partners and friends, and their discussion reaffirmed commitments to regional security and economic cooperation, Barrack wrote.

Erdoğan met with Barrack and US Congressman Darrell Issa at the presidential complex, the Turkish presidency announced, although no account of the agenda or any decisions made has been released.

Issa, a Republican, represents a California district, serves as vice chair of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs and sits on its Middle East and North Africa subcommittee.

Barrack linked his remarks to the 250th anniversary of US independence and the coming centenary of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Turkey and the United States, which began in 1927.

Barrack, a longtime Trump friend and former private equity executive, has served as ambassador since May 2025 and later took on the Syria and Iraq portfolio.

Washington was seeking a communication mechanism among Turkey, Syria and Israel to prevent military clashes after an Israeli strike on a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border, Barrack said in August.

Erdoğan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House in September 2025 and again during the July NATO summit in Ankara, with defense and trade on both agendas.

During a NATO summit in Ankara in July, Trump pledged to lift US sanctions imposed over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian S-400 air defense system and said he would consider allowing Ankara to buy F-35 fighter jets.

The US State Department later told Congress that Turkey had not met the legal conditions for receiving the aircraft because it still possessed the S-400 system.

Washington removed Turkey from the F-35 program in 2019 and imposed sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) in 2020.

Washington says the Russian system could gather sensitive information about the F-35, while Ankara disputes that assessment and calls its exclusion from the program unfair.

Economic ties have grown despite the defense dispute, with bilateral trade in goods and services reaching $48.9 billion in 2025, up 14 percent from 2024, US trade data show.

The total was still less than half the annual $100 billion trade goal set by the two governments.

Barrack’s claim also came days after Washington sanctioned a Turkish investment bank and its two subsidiaries over alleged transactions for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, Reuters reported.

The Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned three more Turkey-based companies over alleged support for Mahan Air, an Iranian carrier under US sanctions.

The action against the bank concerned the conduct of one institution rather than Turkey, its banking system or an ally, Barrack said.

US and Turkish officials were in contact, he added.