Trump meets Turkish leader amid storm over shared intel

WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump will hold his first face-to-face meeting with Turkey’s president Tuesday amid accusations that Trump gave Russian officials classified intelligence from a foreign ally.

Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are expected to address the Syrian civil war, refugee crisis and the fight against the Islamic State group, including the U.S. decision to arm Syrian Kurdish fighters despite Turkey’s vehement objections.

But the meeting will take place with a White House still responding to what a senior U.S. official said was disclosure of classified information about an Islamic State terror threat involving laptop computers on aircraft. Trump shared the threat in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister and U.S. ambassador in the Oval Office last week, according to the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The matter could emerge in Trump’s meeting with Erdogan. The U.S. is relying on regional allies including Turkey for intelligence-sharing and military assistance as it crafts a Syria policy, particularly as Iran and Russia work to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Trump launched cruise missiles last month at a Syrian air base after accusing Assad of using chemical weapons. But the president hasn’t outlined a strategy to quell the six-year civil war or usher Assad out of power, which his administration says will be needed to stabilize the Arab country.

Tension was expected already for the Erdogan talks, after the U.S. announced last week that it would arm Kurdish Syrian militants to help them fight IS. Turkey has been pressuring the U.S. to drop support for the militants and doesn’t want them spearheading an operation to retake IS’ self-declared capital of Raqqa.

Turkey believes the Kurds in Syria are linked to a Turkish Kurdish group, known as the PKK, which the U.S., the European Union and Turkey all consider a terrorist organization. The U.S. sees the Syrian Kurds as their best battlefield partner on the ground in northern Syria.

Last month, the Turkish military bombed Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, in one case with American forces only about six miles (10 kilometers) away. Erdogan’s government also has insisted it may attack Syrian Kurdish fighters again. The U.S., whose forces are sometimes embedded with the Kurds, has much to fear.

Trump’s deal-making skills will be put to the test as he tries to assure Erdogan that weapons won’t fall into the wrong hands. Observers, meanwhile, will be closely watching how Trump handles Turkey’s deteriorating human rights situation.

Trump has gone out of his way to foster a good relationship with Erdogan. After a national referendum last month that strengthened Erdogan’s presidential powers, European leaders and rights advocates criticized Turkey for moving closer toward autocratic rule. Trump congratulated Erdogan.

The two presidents will give public statements Tuesday.

Ahead of the meeting, Trump defended his decision to share “facts pertaining to terrorism” and airline safety with Russia, saying in a pair of tweets he has “an absolute right” as president to do so.

Foreign allies may see things differently. A senior European intelligence official told The Associated Press his country might withhold information from the U.S. if it confirms Trump shared classified details with Russia.

Doing so “could be a risk for our sources,” said the official, who spoke on condition that neither he nor his country be identified, because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

It’s unclear what country was the source of Trump’s intelligence.

Trump was to speak to another regional ally, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, by phone on Tuesday. U.S. and Jordanian officials said the call was previously scheduled.

WINK News livestreamed Trump and Erdogan’s joint press conference on Facebook: