Washington (CNN) A small group of Republican senators who traditionally focus on foreign policy issues attended a White House meeting with President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Ahead of the meeting, there had been limited information given to the Hill on what it was all about, two sources familiar with the meeting told CNN. But it was made clear it was a meeting Trump wanted amid significant Capitol Hill criticism of Erdoğan personally and Turkey's recent actions in Syria.

It was being framed as an opportunity to "clear the air" and have a serious and frank discussion about the real fissures in the relationship, which also includes US outrage over Turkey's purchase of Russian weapons systems, one source familiar with the meeting told CNN. But the source also acknowledged the meeting was very irregular and nobody was sure what to expect.

GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham, Jim Risch, Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst and Rick Scott all attended and reporters were invited in to see the lawmakers raise their foreign policy concerns with Erdoğan -- specifically addressing the sale of Russian weapons to Turkey and Turkey's conflicts with the Kurds.

"The purpose of this meeting is to have an American civics lesson with our Turkish friends. And there's a pony in there somewhere if we can find it," Graham said.

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