Black-clad Turkish police lined the streets, giant blue banners proclaimed 'The Key to Peace', and a ceremonial welcome awaited Donald Trump as he landed in Ankara for a Nato summit. The US president, who has made no secret of his disdain for the alliance, was met with a lavish reception by his friend President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — the two men walking arm-in-arm while a band played the Stars and Stripes and Turkish jets trailed red, white and blue smoke.
But within moments of touching down, Trump began lashing out at allies. At a meeting with Erdogan, he revived his demand to annex Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, saying the island 'should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark' because 'Denmark doesn't spend money to really help Greenland.' The claim came despite Greenlandic and Danish authorities having already rejected the idea. Trump acknowledged that his earlier thoughts on Greenland had upset his relations with Nato — they certainly did, with Denmark's prime minister warning that if the US ever took Greenland by force it would spell the end for the alliance.
“Trump demands Greenland, threatens troop withdrawal from Europe at Nato summit.”
Trump then threatened to pull US troops out of Europe, complaining about how much America spends in the continent and criticising European countries for allowing too much migration. 'Because, as you probably noticed, Europe's a very different place than it was 20 years ago,' he said. '[It's] a lot different, much different, much different, and they better be careful with immigration and energy. If they're not careful with those two things, you're not going to have a Europe anymore.'
The president also singled out the UK for criticism despite Sir Keir Starmer allowing him to launch airstrikes on Iranian missile sites from British airbases. Referring to the prime minister, Trump said: 'He said no we'll help after the war is over. I said I don't want that kind of help. We didn't need any help at all. In a way I was testing people, I was testing to see whether or not they'd be there because I've long said that we help them but I'm not sure that they'd be there for us.'
Beyond the optics and speeches, Nato delegates have been getting down to the serious business of rearming Europe. Large contracts have been announced for a new fleet of transport aircraft to be built by Airbus, and Nato's ageing AWACS early warning aircraft are to be replaced by Sweden's GlobeEye planes. But the image of unity at this crucial gathering has been punctuated by Trump's inflammatory words — leaving the alliance grappling with a challenge that shows no sign of abating.