ERDOGAN AND BIDEN TALK ABOUT REPAIRING TIES
▶ Meeting on sidelines of G20 in Rome moves US-Turkey relations forward
President Joe Biden raised US concerns about a Turkish missile purchase from Russia with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Rome yesterday.
Their alliance had been tested by Ankara’s threat to expel the US ambassador and its acquisition of the S-400 missile defence system.
At their meeting, Mr Biden and Mr Erdogan sought to defuse tension over the missiles and the ejection of Turkey from the F-35 Lightning fighter jet programme in 2019.
According to officials, the presidents focused on their defence interests as Nato allies.
The US said Mr Biden “made clear his desire to have constructive relations with Turkey and to find an effective way to manage our disagreements”.
“He expressed appreciation for Turkey’s nearly two decades of contributions to the Nato mission in Afghanistan,” the White House said.
After talks that lasted for about an hour on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Mr Erdogan’s office said they agreed on a mechanism to strengthen ties, although there were no details about it.
The meeting was brought forward from the Cop26 summit in Glasgow this week. Mr Erdogan has lobbied for talks about the fate of the $1.4 billion Turkey paid for F-35s and invested in the development of the plane.
Washington barred Ankara from the project after it bought Russian missiles that Nato allies feared could be used to collect intelligence on the plane’s stealth capabilities.
Turkey refused to ditch the missiles as demanded by Washington.
Mr Biden noted America’s concerns over the S-400 during the meeting, the White House said.
The leaders also planned to discuss regional issues involving Syria and Libya, a senior US official said on Saturday.
Turkey’s role as a Nato ally has been under scrutiny in recent weeks.
At a rally in Eskisehir, northwest Turkey, on October 23, Mr Erdogan said 10 foreign ambassadors who called for the release of a jailed philanthropist should be declared personae non gratae.
The envoys, including US, French and German representatives, issued a statement seeking to resolve the case of Osman Kavala, a businessman and philanthropist held in prison since 2017.
He has not been convicted of a crime.
Mr Erdogan did not follow through on the threat, but it reflected the tensions building with the US.
Since Mr Biden became president, they have met only at a Nato summit in June where they discussed the possibility of Turkey securing and operating the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
Those plans evaporated as the Taliban took control of Afghanistan when the US military departed.
Mr Erdogan said Turkey was open to buying a second Russian missile system, despite the controversy generated by the 2017 deal for the S-400.
The US has denied making any financing offer over Turkey’s request to buy more F-16 warplanes, after Mr Erdogan said that may be a way of returning the $1.4bn.
Turkey said it sent a formal request to the US on September 30 to buy 40 F-16 Block 70 aircraft and nearly 80 kits from Lockheed Martin to modernise about 100 other F-16s.
A Pentagon delegation visited Ankara on October 27 and discussed issues resulting from Turkey’s removal from the F-35 programme, which was finalised on September 23.
The Pentagon said the discussions were productive and another meeting would take place in Washington in the months ahead.
Mr Erdogan said Turkey was not given the option to buy USmade Patriot missiles.
He also said the US had not delivered F-35s despite the $1.4bn payment.
Turkey said the S-400s could be used without being integrated into Nato systems, and therefore they posed no risk to the F-35s.
Additional sources of strain for the two countries include Turkey’s human rights record, US support for Syrian-Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers terrorists, and the US residency of a Muslim cleric accused of plotting a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.