Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will discuss the recent tensions between the US and Turkey with his American counterpart Joe Biden in the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit.
In an interview with national broadcaster TRT late on Tuesday, Erdogan said “preliminary preparations” have been made ahead of the meeting.
“At the meeting, we will ask why the Turkey-US relations are going through such a tense period,” said Erdogan. The meeting between Erdogan and Biden will take place on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium. Erdogan also reiterated disappointment over Washington’s support for YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria. Relations with Egypt On relations with Egypt, Erdogan said Turkey and Egypt have a vast area of cooperation from the Eastern Mediterranean to Libya and Ankara is determined to restore relations with Cairo. “I know Egyptian people very well. The cultural aspect of our ties is very strong. Therefore, we are determined to start this process again,” said the president. “Our desire is to use these opportunities for cooperation at the maximum level and improve our ties on a win-win basis … The same situation is valid for all Gulf countries too,” Erdogan said. Ankara’s ties with Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been strained over several issues, including the Libyan conflict, the Eastern Mediterranean and the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. Turkey has in recent months been pushing to repair ties with the estranged regional powers. It sent a delegation to Cairo for talks and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks in Riyadh with his Saudi counterpart.
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