As President Donald Trump heads to Ankara, Turkey, for the upcoming NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is again at the center of alliance politics. Trump has praised Erdoğan as "a friend" and "a respected leader," underscoring a relationship that could shape defense talks between Washington and Turkey, including Turkey’s long-running effort to restore deeper military cooperation. The moment highlights the remarkable position Erdoğan occupies today: Once regarded as one of NATO’s most troublesome allies after taking delivery of the Russian S-400 missile defense system in 2019, Turkey has become increasingly difficult for the alliance to sideline as the war in Ukraine drags on, instability grips the Middle East and the Black Sea grows more strategic. For many, however, Erdoğan remains an enigma.Rather than being driven by a fixed worldview, experts argue, Erdoğan repeatedly has reinvented himself politically, adopting whichever ideology best serves his overriding objective: remaining in power. TURKEY DETAINS OVER 200 SUSPECTS, INCLUDING ALLEGED ISIS MILITANTS, IN SWEEPING RAID AHEAD OF NATO SUMMITAs President Donald Trump heads to Ankara, Turkey, for the upcoming NATO summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is again at the center of alliance politics. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)Erdoğan has ruled Turkey for more than two decades, evolving from an Istanbul mayor with Islamist roots into a pro-European reformer, then a nationalist strongman, and now a pivotal NATO power broker courted by Trump. To supporters, he restored Turkey's global stature.
To critics, he hollowed out its democracy while jailing rivals, journalists and activists.But Erdoğan's most defining trait, experts say, may be less ideology than survival.Is he an Islamist? A nationalist? A Western ally? A Russian partner? An authoritarian?Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Erdoğan is that he has been all of those things — at different moments, ac...