Since US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi introduced the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, I have been receiving agitated calls from Ankara. From the first day on, Justice and Development Party (AKP) elites have been referring to the impeachment inquiry against Trump as an act of the deep state or the CIA — even going so far as to call it a coup. So Trump’s October tweets echoing the same lines were not surprising to those of us who are familiar with the AKP's rhetoric.

The Trump administration has extensively supported the Kurds in Syria — or at least it did until this month. Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and he is not known for his embrace of Palestine or other Muslim communities.

Despite rough times between Washington and Ankara, Erdogan and Trump have referred to each other as “my friend” or “my close friend” repeatedly since Trump’s election in 2016. Now, as the possibility of an impeachment process looms in the background of the Trump administration, AKP’s bigwigs are worried.

A quick scan of the Turkish media since the impeachment inquiry began shows there are informational pieces from state-run TRT television explaining the procedure of the impeachment process. The other news in pro-government outlets is basically about Trump’s words and tweets. For example, CNN Turk introduced the issue with the headline “Neither the first nor the last” and detailed the impeachment histories of four other US presidents. The analysis concluded that given the Republican majority in the Senate, it was unlikely that Trump would be removed from office. Washington bureau chief for Anadolu Agency Hakan Copur’s tweet telling his readers that one needs to follow right-wing and conservative media outlets as well to understand the impeachment process sums up the focus of the Turkish media so far. The most common argument the AKP base supports is that Trump is now a victim and will win easily in 2020.