--- title: Donald Trump To Turkish Reporter: "Are You Friend Or Foe?" description: When confronted with a question by a Turkish reporter, Donald Trump asked if he was an enemy. canonical: https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-01T19:32:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:01:17.554Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump to Turkish Reporter: 'Are You Friend or Foe?' og:description: Trump has been known to ask the question at rallies og:url: https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a591492809ecb5/698899c5428a9e0a1acd339c/trump-flip-flop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Speech - June 22, 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump to Turkish Reporter: 'Are You Friend or Foe?' twitter:description: Trump has been known to ask the question at rallies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a591492809ecb5/698899c5428a9e0a1acd339c/trump-flip-flop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump to Turkish Reporter: 'Are You Friend Or Foe?'  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 1, 2016 7:32 PM UTC  Donald Trump gives campaign speech at Trump SoHo in New York City on June 22, 2016. Donald Trump gives campaign speech at Trump SoHo in New York City on June 22, 2016.Steve Sands—FilmMagic/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 1, 2016 7:32 PM UTC Donald Trump often asks people if they are “friend or foe,” but on Friday that tendency drew controversy when he asked the question of a Turkish reporter asking a question. “Are you from Turkey, sir?” Trump responded when a journalist, who [identified himself on Twitter](https://twitter.com/yusufserce/status/748950936358227968) as Yusuf Serce, asked him a question. “I think he’s friend,” Trump says to the audience, pointing at the reporter. “Are you friend or foe?” he then asked Serce directly. This is not the first time Trump has asked someone their allegiance at a campaign event. During rallies, when the presumptive GOP nominee hears sounds of a disruption, sometimes Trump will yell out the question to gauge whether the noise is coming from protesters or cheering fans. “I just wanted to let him say what he wants to say,” was Serce’s [response on Twitter](https://twitter.com/yusufserce/status/748950936358227968): > [](https://twitter.com/yusufserce/status/748950936358227968) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/"},"headline":"Donald Trump to Turkish Reporter: 'Are You Friend Or Foe?'","datePublished":"2016-07-01T19:32:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:01:17.554Z","description":"Trump has been known to ask the question at rallies","url":"https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a591492809ecb5/698899c5428a9e0a1acd339c/trump-flip-flop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt28a591492809ecb5/698899c5428a9e0a1acd339c/trump-flip-flop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Speech - June 22, 2016","caption":"Donald Trump gives campaign speech at Trump SoHo in New York City on June 22, 2016.","creditText":"Steve Sands—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4391997/donald-trump-turkey-friend-foe/","name":"Donald Trump to Turkish Reporter: 'Are You Friend Or Foe?'"}}]}] ```