Turkey is riding high. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump is paying dividends as the Trump administration seeks to fast-track the sale of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey. Turkey’s arms industry, run by the president’s son-in-law, reverse engineers military technology and makes billions of dollars, often selling drones and other weaponry to some of the world’s most odious regimes. 

Meanwhile, Hay’at Tahrir al Sham, a Turkey-backed rebel group that ousted Syrian President Bashar al Assad on Dec. 8, 2024, now runs that country. While Syria historically was a threat to Turkey — the two almost went to war in 1997 — Turkey today is the dominant diplomatic and economic power in Syria. From Syria’s reconstruction alone, Turkish companies controlled by Erdoğan cronies stand to win billions of dollars in contracts.