Host Recep Tayyip Erdogan is showered with compliments by Donald Trump at the start of the major NATO summit. The US President, however, is taking out his frustration on the Europeans.
Jul 8, 2026, 1:16 amJul 8, 2026, 1:16 am
Remo Hess, Ankara / ch media
“The chemistry was right from the start,” says Donald Trump about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Image: Osmancan Gurdogan / EPA
“Everyone get out again!” shouts the Turkish police officer. If the US President is nearby, nothing drives here anymore. Not even the NATO shuttle bus that was supposed to take the journalists and diplomats to the heavily guarded security zone. So it’s time to put your luggage under your arm and head up the hill to the Beştepe Presidential Palace on foot.
It is a true fortress of power where this year’s NATO summit is taking place in the Turkish capital Ankara. The palace complex is flanked by the “People’s Mosque” with its four minarets and the National Library. Critics say Erdogan had a private monument built here based on the model of the Ottoman sultans. US President Donald Trump, himself a lover of royal pomp, will probably like the marble halls and gold furniture in the over 1,000 rooms.
“Merhaba asker!” – “Greetings, soldiers!” says Trump in Turkish to the honor formation, which greets him with cannon shots. Inside, the US President gives one of his improvised short press conferences in the presence of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
It was precisely these moments that the NATO organizers were particularly afraid of. The world and with it Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin are watching when the most powerful defense alliance in history meets.
What does Trump say? Is he the reliable partner today? Or is he once again sabotaging the alliance from within by giving in to the supposedly parasitic Europeans?
The future of NATO depends on Trump’s daily form
A little earlier in the day, about a 15 minute drive away. In a conference center decorated with NATO flags and also hermetically sealed, everyone who has rank and name in the defense and armaments universe meets. The program includes a series of new procurement projects: German submarines for Canada, Airbus transport aircraft and flying early warning systems for NATO, Triton long-range drones from the USA. In total, Rutte puts the new purchases at 50 billion – a big deal.
The multimedia show targets Donald Trump. It should show him: Europe’s new defense billions will become military power – exactly as he demands.
Global Eye: The flying radar station is a co-production of Bombardier from Canada and Saab from Sweden and is intended to replace the AWACS reconnaissance aircraft.Image: Remo Hess
Bottleneck industry – even after four years of war
But it can’t be done with new contracts alone. The problem is the bottleneck in the industry: it cannot produce as quickly as the orders come in. While Russia has long since switched to a war economy, the market economy principle still applies in the NATO states. And defense contractors are slow. Building new production lines takes time unless ordered from above. This applies to the Europeans as well as to the USA.
Meeting this does the Ukrainians. On Monday, just in time for the start of the NATO summit, Russia carried out a massive air attack on the capital Kiev for the second time in five days. And this time, not a single one of the more than 30 ballistic missiles could be shot down. At least 18 people were killed.
The reason is the shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles. Before he left for the summit, Zelensky called it an “absurdity” that too few of them were still being produced. Ukraine has capacity, but the USA does not release the licenses.
Ukrainian drones are in high demand
Iryna Terekh no longer believes that they will do that. She knows a lot about the rocket business: The 34-year-old is the founder and CEO of the Ukrainian defense company “Fire Point”, which, among other things, produces the self-developed “Flamingo” cruise missile. Her day was “very stressful,” she says between a bite of chicken and a spinach dumpling. Many European countries would be interested in their FP-1 and FP-2 drones.
CEO and founder Iryna Terekh: Your company produces the Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missile.Image: Remo Hess
No wonder: they achieve the best results on the battlefield. On Monday, the day of the Russian attack on Kiev, the Fire Point drones carried out an attack on the Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia, 3,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It was the last Russian oil facility that Ukraine had not yet targeted – and another technological masterpiece.
Fire Point is currently working on its own Patriot alternative together with European partners. The rocket for this is already ready. Terekh says she hopes that Ukraine will be able to report the first launch of a Russian guided missile next year.
But the Europeans would have to get going for this. The bureaucratic obstacles are a nightmare. That’s exactly why President Zelenskiy warned in his speech to finally show “the necessary determination” so that a European interception system can be developed. This must be “affordable and produced in mass quantities,” says Selenski.
Back to Donald Trump in the Sultan’s Palace. While he cuddles the Turkish head of state and pampers him as his close friend, he makes less flattering comments about the European allies. It is what they were afraid of. In addition to his frustration over the alleged lack of assistance in the Iran war, which is focused on Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Britain’s Keir Starmer, he also renews his desire to annex the Arctic island of Greenland.
This sets the ambience. It remains to be hoped for NATO that Trump’s mood will noticeably improve at the gala dinner in the palace in the presence of the 32 heads of state and government along with their wives and husbands. And perhaps the gentle singing of the muezzin from the mosque next door can calm him down a bit. (schweiztoday.ch)