Turkey welcomes European leaders while cracking down on leaders at home

Turkey welcomed not one but two major European leaders to its capital last week. First, the UK’s Keir Starmer, then Germany’s Friedrich Merz. For more than a decade, Turkey’s backsliding on democracy has lead to distance from Europe. But the growing threat from Russia, and Turkey’s potential role in Europe’s defense, seem to be ushering in a new era of cooperation, ironically, at the same time that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s crackdown on domestic opposition figures reaches a new peak. Deutsche Welle, DW’s Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.