US President Donald Trump has urged Turkey to stop buying oil from Russia, part of a wider drive to cut off Moscow’s energy funding as the war in Ukraine rages on.
Speaking alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, Trump said halting those imports would be “the best thing” his Turkish counterpart could do.
The Oval Office meeting ended without any firm commitments to lift US sanctions on Turkey or sell advanced F-35 fighter jets, although Trump expressed optimism about both issues.
Turkey has for years been prevented from buying US F-35s. In 2019 it was expelled from a programme where it produced parts for the warplane after it acquired air defence systems from Russia.
During a brief question-and-answer session alongside Erdogan in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he would like Turkey to stop “buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues its rampage against Ukraine”.
“The best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia,” Trump said. “If he did that, that would be the best thing.”
Trump added that he believes Erdogan is respected both by Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meaning that he could “have a big influence” on the war “if he wants to”.
Alongside India and China, Turkey is among Moscow’s biggest customers for oil and gas exports, and data shows that the volume of Russian gas that reached Europe through Turkey rose by over 26% earlier this year.
The US president’s comments come just weeks after he said he stood poised to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if Nato countries met conditions that included halting imports of Russian oil.
Earlier this week – during a lengthy speech at the UN General Assembly – Trump also accused Nato allies of “funding the war against themselves” through their purchases of energy from Moscow.
