US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged Sunday to improve bilateral ties following a particularly tense period between Washington and Ankara.

Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome, the two leaders "had a very constructive conversation" in which Biden "made clear his desire to have constructive relations with Turkey and to find an effective way to manage our disagreements," a senior US administration official said.

According to the Turkish presidency, the leaders "expressed their joint commitment to further strengthening Turkey-US relations and agreed to establish a joint mechanism to that effect".

They also "stressed the importance of the NATO alliance," the Turkish presidency said.

Turkey's 2019 purchase of a Russian S-400 air defence system has been an irritant on ties, prompting Washington to block Ankara's plans to buy about 100 next-generation US F-35 planes.

Erdogan has insisted on compensation, saying Washington could pay back at least part of the $1.4 billion advance payment Turkey made for the F-35s through the delivery of older-generation F-16 fighter jets.

In addition, Erdogan earlier this month threatened to expel a slew of Western ambassadors, including from the United States, over their support for a jailed Turkish activist.

In comments to journalists later Sunday, Erdogan said he had "expressed our sadness over US support for terror organisations" in Syria, citing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish YPG militia, with whom the United States worked closely in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

According to the White House, Biden used Sunday's meeting to also raise the issue of human rights, and discuss a "full range of foreign policy topics," including Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, the Eastern Mediterranean, the South Caucasus region -- and climate change.

Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Biden butters up Europeans at G20
Rome (AFP) Oct 31, 2021
US President Joe Biden went on a charm offensive with European allies at the G20 summit in Rome, unveiling a steel deal and promising to mend ties strained to breaking point by Donald Trump. It was a fresh start in an ancient setting: those aboard the gigantic presidential convoy - over 80 vehicles at times - glimpsed the Vatican, Colosseum and Roman Forum as they were whisked around the Eternal City to high-end meetings this weekend. Sunday saw Biden hold a news conference with European Commi ... read more