Meloni sat down with Trump, but the US president attacked again: "I like her, but she refused to help us."

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sits at the same table with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump at the NATO leaders' dinner in Ankara. At the same table, according to reports, are German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his wife Charlotte, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Also sitting at the table with host Erdogan is NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the star of the first day of the summit.

Meanwhile, Trump returns to attacking his European allies. Arriving in Ankara for the summit , the American president immediately clarifies that if the summit had been held in another country, he would not have attended. The reason, he explains, is twofold: on the one hand, his friendship with Erdogan, and on the other, "my disappointment with NATO," which is "known to everyone."

During his bilateral meeting with the Turkish president, the tycoon reiterated how the United States has "spent so much money in NATO, trillions of dollars to protect Europeans, to protect other countries." Countries that, he said, later turned their backs on Washington during the war in Iran. Starting with Italy. "I like Giorgia Meloni, she's a good person, but our relationship deteriorated because she refused to help us. She didn't want to get involved in the Strait of Hormuz, and I think she made a mistake," Trump said. The same, he added, applies to Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.

"We don't need help after the war is over. Well, we don't need help in general, fundamentally. We help them, but we're not sure they'll help us. Germany has turned its back on us, Italy has turned its back on us. And that's fine, that's fine. But you know, why are we spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and they're not there for us, they turn their backs on us, they look the other way? That's what they did," he thunders from Turkey.

Trump then contrasted the behavior of his European allies with that of Ankara: "We have excellent relations with Turkey. I think many people have witnessed this, including the people sitting here today. We have perfect relations with Turkey, and Turkey has been much more loyal than many other countries that we thought would be loyal, but haven't been."

The American president does not clarify whether he intends to announce further reductions in US troops in Europe. "We'll see," he says, adding, however, that "we wouldn't have had to spend money; we could have removed all our armed forces from Europe." Ankara also issued a warning to Brussels: "Europe is very different from 20 years ago, very different. And they must be very careful, pay attention to immigration and energy, which are two major key sectors. Otherwise, you will no longer have a Europe in terms of energy and immigration if you continue like this."

While awaiting talks with other leaders, including Meloni, Trump announced that he would meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tomorrow. "I had an excellent discussion with Putin, certainly with Erdogan. I have enormous respect for both of them. I also spoke with President Zelensky immediately afterward. I believe they both want to reach an agreement, they want to make an agreement," he stated. Zelensky himself commented on the content of the bilateral meeting, explaining that "various topics" would be discussed, including air defense. "What's important today is to find a way to obtain, as quickly as possible, the greatest possible number of Patriot systems. This is the most important thing," he stated, emphasizing that "Europe needs its own capabilities against ballistic missiles."

Finally, the Ukrainian president reiterates his country's call for NATO membership. "I have a question for you: do you really believe it would be right to leave out of NATO a country and a people with this level of defense capabilities? If we already have these capabilities, if the Ukrainians already know how to fight this way, then doesn't it make sense for these capabilities to become part of the allies' collective defense? This would make us all stronger. We already consider ourselves reliable partners, and it would only be natural to join a single common security community. The fact is that the world will remain close to the source of the problem, Russia, for a long time. Ukraine in NATO is a source of extraordinary security."

(Unioneonline/D)