The planned meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump took place on Wednesday after drawn-out debates. The series of talks at the White House, unusually, included some Republican senators. This surprising meeting was very crucial because the recent Turkey-U.S. tension was not due to hostility between Ankara and the White House but rather because of the U.S. Congress' hostility toward Turkey.

Trump bringing together senators and President Erdoğan in the Oval Office was a key indication that he wanted to improve bilateral relations. With this meeting, Trump provided a platform for Erdoğan to explain Turkey's concerns directly to senators. Moreover, the fact that part of this meeting was open to the press provided the basis for the president's responses to the senators to receive wide coverage in the international press.

For instance, in response to Sen. Ted Cruz’s statement: "The Kurds have risked a lot to stand with America and fight our shared enemy, and there is very real concern that we do not want to see Turkey engaged in offensive actions against the Kurds," President Erdoğan gave the critical answer: "We have to make a distinction between two things: Kurds and terrorists. Kurds are my citizens. You can only understand my investments in that area if you can see them in place. The number of Kurds who took refuge in my country from Kobani during Mr. Obama's era was 350,000." It was also a critical detail that Turkey communicated this policy and stance directly to the senators without going through the filter of the international press and U.S. lobbies. Likewise, at the press conference held by the two leaders, Erdoğan said: "There are around 50 Kurdish deputies in my party, the AK Party." This was more than enough for the foreign media, if they wish to understand that Turkey’s attitude toward Kurds is not actually how they present it.

Turkey has been subjected to propaganda like "cruel Turkey is killing innocent Kurds," which began in the U.S. with Operation Peace Spring, which Turkey unilaterally launched east of the Euphrates after U.S. procrastination in the region. Therefore, one of the priorities for Erdoğan was to tell the reasons, purposes and details of Turkey’s fight against the People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorist organization, which is the Syrian branch of the PKK.

We expect that this issue has been handled in a very comprehensive manner, both in the meeting with the senators and during the previous one between the presidents and their delegations. Besides, we can understand from the part of the meeting open to the press and the remarks made during the press conference by Erdoğan and Trump, that President Erdoğan also voiced a number of concerns about Ferhat Abdi Şahin, code-named Mazloum Kobani, who is treated like a legitimate leader or a hero in the U.S. Şahin is the foster child of Abdullah Öcalan and is not only part of the YPG but also an active member of the PKK; we must not forget the terrorist acts he has carried out in Turkey, the civilians and police officers he has killed in Turkey and many other issues related to this terrorist.

Another important issue is that President Erdoğan once again explained in detail the plan to build a safe zone in Syria, which Turkey insists on, and the number of Syrian refugees who could be placed there. Another striking detail in addition to the possible 1 million refugees who could be placed in a 32-kilometer-deep area east of the Euphrates, 1 million others could be placed further south, in areas such as Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, after his visual presentation of this at the U.N. General Assembly. It seems that Turkey will maintain its insistence on finding a solution to this issue, which is also a problem for the European Union. Another detail that did not go unnoticed is that Trump supports Erdoğan, who has underlined the EU’s irresponsible attitude toward Syrian refugees and the withdrawal of European Daesh members.

The fact that Trump spoke with President Erdoğan with Republican senators should lead to an alleviation of tension, albeit temporary, between Ankara and the U.S. Congress. This is because Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, referring to this meeting, prevented Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez’s proposal to bring the resolution on the Armenian issue to the Senate after the House of Representatives. Saying that "Senators should not try to rewrite history," Graham, one of the senators most in favor of sanctions against Turkey, echoed what Erdoğan has said, in that Turkey has opened its archives in this regard, and also suggested that members of Congress needed to look at other sources, such as reports in the U.S. National Archives, before making snap judgements on historical events.

Although the CIA presented Trump with documents that prove Ferhat Abdi Şahin is a terrorist and the world's leading intelligence agency now has information and documentation as evidence, he is being treated as a hero in the U.S. Let's hope Washington corrects this mistake after the president reinforces the facts.

The development of U.S.-Turkey trade was also one of the key topics on the table; however, it is a conundrum how the approach the "Let's separate trade from politics" mentioned in the press conference will work on the U.S. front, which has threatened Turkey with economic sanctions in every political dispute. After all, if the U.S. abandons its commercial and economic sanctions threats, what else will it threaten Turkey with?

Apart from all this, as it is understood from the statements reflected in the press, the most important issue on the U.S. front is Turkey's purchase of the S-400 missiles. A NATO ally’s acquisition of an air defense system from Russia will facilitate Russian entry into the U.S.-dominated arms market. As a result of the fact that NATO allies, especially the U.S., have left Turkey in the lurch on many issues, especially Syria, over the last six or seven years, it is a fact that Ankara has been pushed to get closer to Moscow on Syria, defense and other issues. It is of importance that this situation, which started during the Barack Obama era, was told to senators by President Erdoğan, apart from Trump, who is already aware of the issue.

The S-400 issue could not be resolved in the short term; however, if any progress is made in solving other problems between the U.S. and Turkey, there may eventually be a possibility of an agreement that will please both sides. If no agreement is reached, there is no doubt that the issue will not only remain between the two countries but will evolve into a debate involving all NATO members that could affect the future of the alliance. In this case, French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement, "What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO," condemned by both presidents, will become a reality. This means opening the door to developments that will fundamentally change the balance of the world.

As the White House meeting coincided with the first day of the impeachment inquiry into Trump, the possibility that this meeting could be overshadowed by this process, which began with public hearings in Congress, has been refuted by this picture. The fact that Trump placed such great importance on hosting Erdoğan has strengthened the possibility of "opening a new chapter in improving relations" in the way the White House and Ankara want. However, since there are so many other players and factors that help determine the course of bilateral relations, a cautious approach rather than early optimism seems to be more accurate for now.