00:00Well, I think President Erdogan is the one responsible for Syria, for the successful fight in ridding Syria of its past leader.
00:12And I think this man is responsible. He doesn't take the responsibility, but it's actually a great achievement.
00:17They've been trying to do it for 2,000 years. I said, he does it. He did it.
00:21I mean, they're your surrogates. I think you should take the credit for it.
00:24I told him, take the credit. For 2,000 years, you've been trying to take over Syria.
00:30He took over Syria and he doesn't want to take the credit.
00:33You know, all of those people are his surrogates.
00:35But the leader of Syria, the new leader, as you know, I took sanctions off in order to let them breathe because the sanctions were very strong.
00:44But I think we should have a major announcement today.
00:47He was responsible for that victory. It was a victory for Turkey because they've been fighting, as you know, for like a thousand years.
00:54And it never went, you know, it was back and forth, but he's responsible for that.
01:00So he would have a lot to say with respect to Syria.
01:03Well, I think President Erdogan is the one responsible for Syria, for the successful fight in ridding Syria of its past leader.
01:15And I think this man is responsible. He doesn't take the responsibility, but it's actually a great achievement.
01:20They've been trying to do it for 2,000 years. I said, he does it. He did it.
01:24I mean, they're your surrogates. I think you should take the credit for it.
01:27I told him, take the credit. For 2,000 years, you've been trying to take over Syria.
01:34He took over Syria and he doesn't want to take the credit.
01:36You know, all of those people are his surrogates.
01:38But the leader of Syria, the new leader, as you know, I took sanctions off in order to let them breathe because the sanctions were very strong.
01:47But I think we should have a major announcement today.
01:50He was responsible for that victory.
01:52It was a victory for Turkey because they've been fighting, as you know, for like a thousand years.
01:58And it never went, you know, it was back and forth.
02:01But he's responsible for that.
02:03So he would have a lot to say with respect to Syria.
02:06Thank you very much.
02:07It's a pleasure to be with President Erdogan of Turkey.
02:10And we've been friends for a long time, actually, even for four years when I was in exile.
02:17Unfairly, as it turns out, rigged election.
02:20You know, he knows about rigged elections better than anybody.
02:23But when I was in exile, we were still friends.
02:28That's always a good way to find out, test of friendship.
02:31But he's a highly respected man.
02:35He's respected very much in his country and all throughout Europe and throughout the world where they know him.
02:40He's built a tremendous military, powerful military, uses a lot of our equipment.
02:46And it's an honor to have him at the White House.
02:49We're going to have a lunch together.
02:52We're going to have a discussion, big discussion.
02:54We do a lot of trade with Turkey and we're going to continue.
02:57We're going to do some additional trade.
02:59They want to buy F-16s, F-35s and some other things.
03:02And we're going to talk to them about that.
03:05And we're just going to have, I think, a very interesting couple of hours.
03:11We're going to get a lot done.
03:12But I have great respect for this man.
03:14And we've had a very good relationship for a long time.
03:18If you remember, he let Pastor Brunson, he freed Pastor Brunson.
03:22Pastor Brunson was put in jail for 35 years before I got there.
03:27This was a group that should have stopped it.
03:30And the president, after I called him, released him, which was a great thing for our Christian community, our evangelical community.
03:40The evangelicals really, really wanted that.
03:42It was very important to him, so I always remembered that.
03:44But he released him from 35 years in prison.
03:49And Pastor Brunson now is healthy, happy and well.
03:53And we're very happy about that.
03:54But it's a great honor to have the president of Turkey with us.
03:59And how are you?
04:02Fine.
04:02Say a few words.
04:04Great guy.
04:04So this is a tough man.
04:07This is a guy who's highly opinionated.
04:13Usually I don't like opinionated people, but I always like this one.
04:16But he's a tough one.
04:18And he does an amazing job in this country.
04:22And we've had tremendous relationships, both having to do with war and having to do with trade.
04:28And I guess today we're talking about both.
04:31I'd like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine.
04:40And they've been fighting.
04:42They've lost millions of lives already.
04:44And for what?
04:45You know, for what?
04:47Disgraceful.
04:47And I said yesterday, let it keep going because their economy is absolutely terrible right now.
04:55And I think it's I think it's a shame that they're doing that, killing a lot of people unnecessarily.
05:007,818 people were killed last week.
05:04Mostly military people, their people and Ukrainians.
05:08More Russians actually than Ukraine, a little bit more.
05:12But it's such a waste of human life.
05:14And so we ought to stop, Putin ought to stop.
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