Turkey's Erdogan Has Become One of World's Most Powerful Men—And Trump Ally

As President Donald Trump seeks to reshape Washington's foreign policy in the Middle East, the U.S. leader has increasingly looked to the head of a longtime ally who has emerged as one of the most influential voices in the region—and beyond.

Over the past week alone, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has proved himself a crucial player on several geopolitical fronts. Days after overseeing an end to a four-decade insurgency waged by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Erdogan was credited by Trump in convincing him to lift sanctions on Syria and even meet the country's rebel-turned-interim leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, during a high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia, the first foreign trip of Trump's second presidency.