WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Turkey has
been an important ally to the
United States for years, but,

recently, different views on
how to fight ISIS in Syria, on
human rights, and on a number

of other issues have driven a
wedge into that relationship.

Judy Woodruff is in New York.

And, late today, she spoke
with Turkey's President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF: William,
yes, I'm in New York.

And I just finished moments
ago a lengthy interview with
President Erdogan on a number

of subjects.

But what I think is -- may be
of greatest interest is, when
I asked him about the report

today -- again, this is a
moment of tension in a season
of tension between the U.S. and

Turkey -- a report today
that the Trump administration
has decided it will not
go forward with selling

guns and other weapons to
President Erdogan's presidential
guards, in a surprising twist,

President Erdogan said this
didn't make sense, because he
claimed that the U.S. has been

giving weapons to
terrorists in Syria.

And by that, he was referring
to the anti-ISIS - -
Kurdish anti-ISIS groups.

Let's listen.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN,
Turkish President (through
translator): We need to
fight these terrorists

with the United States.

And when we are not able to
acquire those weapons from
the United States, why are you

giving those weapons
to terrorists?

It's a question that we ask our
friends in the United States.

And when these questions are
not answered, we're feeling
sorry, as the strategic partners

to the U.S.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Those
were some pretty tough words
about U.S. foreign policy.

I know there was also a
recent announcement last
week that the Turks had
purchased surface-to-air

missiles from the Russians,
Turkey being a NATO member,
Russia being a pretty strong

enemy of NATO.

Did you ask the
president about that?

And what did he say?

JUDY WOODRUFF: I did, William.

This has raised the hackles, as
you can imagine, of other NATO
members in Europe and in the

United States, questions about,
where does Turkey's loyalty
really lie, if it's cutting

this $2.5 billion deal to buy
these surface-to-air missiles?

President Erdogan's
response is that it was
a logical thing to do.

He said, over time, we
have been asking other
NATO countries for weapons.

They haven't been willing
to sell them to us.

He said, the United States
won't even sell us drones.

He said, we have had
that request in for
a number of years.

So, he said, it was only
natural that we would
turn to the Russians.

And I tried to pin him down,
if you will, a little bit
about where his loyalty really

lies.

Is it with NATO and the
West, or is it with Russia?

And his answer was essentially
neither one - - both -- both
and neither, that we have

to do what's best for Turkey.

As I said, we covered a lot in
this interview, and we're going
to be bringing our "NewsHour"

viewers much more of
it tomorrow night.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right,
Judy Woodruff from New
York, thank you so much.