NATO Leaders Fly Into Ankara for Most Fraught Summit in Years
The alliance’s 32 leaders gathered in Ankara tonight for a two-day summit opening tomorrow — the first hosted by Turkey — with Secretary-General Mark Rutte reported to face demands from President Trump for loyalty as much as burden-sharing. Trump meets President Erdogan on arrival, sees President Zelensky on the summit’s margins, and holds an unprecedented meeting with Syria’s President Sharaa. Enforcement of last year’s defence-spending pledges and Ukraine’s air defences top the agenda.
The summit convenes with every fault line exposed at once: a president who has publicly mused about leaving the alliance, a host running a domestic crackdown as his guests land, a war on Europe’s edge escalating precisely to coincide, and spending pledges whose enforcement mechanisms remain unwritten. Rutte’s task is the one his predecessor perfected — keeping the American president inside the tent by any rhetorical means necessary — while the Europeans try to convert their promised aid figures into something Kyiv can fire this month. The Paris court’s Le Pen ruling lands the same morning the summit opens. Watch the opening communiqué language on Article 5 and any Trump remarks on arrival.