Since US President Donald Trump’s election, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hoped for a fresh start with the United States. For the last four months, the pro-Erdogan media’s pragmatism has been built on two pillars: put the blame on the Barack Obama administration for all things wrong in Syria and stand up for Trump against all accusations.

Finally, on May 16 the anticipated Erdogan-Trump meeting took place. Seasoned journalist Unsal Unlu summed it up by saying, “This trip is more difficult to write about than to experience it because the get-together of the two leaders lasted for 22 minutes and we will spend hours and hours discussing it.”

He had a point. Pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) commentators struggled to portray the trip they had referred to as “historic” in the weeks prior as an absolute success. In several sentences blended with machismo attitudes, there were hollow observations about how Erdogan stood his ground against Trump’s regular “I will pull you in” handshake and how Trump touched his shoulder. Trump’s greeting of Erdogan at the door of the White House was also a perfect photo moment for these commentators.

There were others, such as Asli Aydintasbas of daily Cumhuriyet, known for her strongly critical views of Erdogan, who said the meeting was a success for the Turkish president. Aydintasbas said, “Our neighborhood and, in general, media fail to read the trip properly and argue that Erdogan came back home empty-handed.” For evidence, she wrote about Trump’s body language, which she said signaled affection for Erdogan. She said that despite the US commitment to the People's Protection Units (YPG), the United States was also committed to support Turkey in its battle against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).