The Turkish President is working to improve relations between the two NATO allies, who have been tense on a number of issues.
Turkey wants to improve its cooperation with the United States on a “win-win” basis, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and made a conciliatory reconciliation amid tense relations between the two NATO allies.
“As Turkey, we believe that our common interests with the United States far outweigh our disagreements,” Erdogan said in television commentary on Saturday, adding that Ankara wanted to strengthen cooperation through “a long-term, win-win perspective.” .
“Turkey will continue to do its part in a way worthy of the allied and strategic partnership relations between the two countries,” he said, adding that Turkish-US relations have recently been “seriously tested”.
Relations between Turkey and the US have been strained on a number of issues in recent years. In December, the US approved Turkey to purchase Russian S-400 defense systems.
Turkey has said it wants to improve relations under US President Joe Biden, but has urged Washington to end its support for the Kurdish-led People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, and accused them of advocating for fighters it says they would have executed 13 Turks in northern Iraq this month.
Ankara has been enraged by US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, whom it regards as “terrorists”.
The US has also criticized Ankara for its record of human rights and freedoms. The new US administration also swiftly reprimanded Turkey, demanding the release of imprisoned prominent civil society leader Osman Kavala and criticizing the homophobic rhetoric used in cracking down on student demonstrators in recent months.
In addition, a New York court will initiate a lawsuit against Turkish state-owned Halkbank in May for allegedly evading sanctions against Iran that could potentially inflict a severe economic blow on Turkey.
In a phone call earlier this month, the first official contact since Biden took office, Erdogan’s foreign affairs advisor Ibrahim Kalin told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that the S-400 dispute needed to be resolved.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the S-400 dispute and other disagreements on their first call.
Turkey has hired Washington-based law firm Arnold & Porter to campaign for its readmission into the F-35 jet program, where it was the buyer and manufacturer after it was removed from the US via the S-400.
Washington’s claim that the defense systems pose a threat to the F-35 is rejected by Ankara.
Comments are closed.