“If the Trump administration’s goal with this trip was to send Turkey a message about Ankara’s aggressive foreign policy or its disrespect for religious freedom at home, then I think it’s a bit too late for either of those to resonate at this point.”

“Especially if Trump blames the media [for an undesired result in the U.S. presidential election], I can see [Erdogan] coming to Trump’s defense, in the way Putin came to [Erdogan’s defense] on the night of the coup.”

“[Erdogan] knows that in this climate, the Turkish opposition will have a hard time defending Charlie Hebdo’s freedom of expression…and he doesn’t seem to care about what this will cost him vis-a-vis his image in European democracies.”