The first in the Biden era. Erdogan to visit Washington on May 9
Turkish and U.S. President Joe Biden is scheduled to host his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on May 9, Turkish and U.S. officials said Friday, Turkish and U.S. officials said Friday, in the Turkish leader to Washington since Donald Trump was president of the United States.
Relations, long strained by disagreements over several issues between the two NATO member countries, have improved since Ankara ratified Sweden’s request to join the alliance in January, after a 20-month delay that frustrated Washington.
However, tension remains over issues involving northern Syria, where U.S. forces are allied with Kurdish militants whom Ankara considers terrorists and are waging cross-border military operations.
At the same time, Washington is putting pressure on Ankara to do more to ensure that its sanctions on Russia, which overlooks the Black Sea coast, like Turkey and Ukraine, are not circumvented.
Washington sees the meeting as an opportunity for Erdogan to agree on a complete ban on the transit of goods, which could be used civilianly or militarily, from Turkey, which Washington says is being used in Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, a U.S. official said.
Since Biden’s election in 2020, he and Erdogan have met several times on the sidelines of international summits and spoke by phone. Turkey pressed for a meeting at the White House in which Erdogan previously met with Trump in 2019, where he had good personal ties to him.
A Turkish official, who confirmed the planned visit in May, said the visit comes as an “opportunity” for bilateral relations.
“We hope that the visit will also be an opportunity to strengthen cooperation in various areas and strengthen the spirit of the coalition, including the fight against terrorism,” the official added, requesting anonymity.
Ankara has for years expressed deep alarm at U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it is a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish militants who have been waging decades of insurgency against the Turkish state. But Washington says the YPG is a key ally against the Islamic State in Syria.
Despite the dispute over the US military presence in Syria and US support for Israel in its war on Hamas, Washington and Ankara recently struck a long-awaited deal by agreeing Turkey to buy US F-16 fighter jets.
During the visit, the Biden administration will look to see if Ankara can commit to a ban on “dual-use” goods, such as chemicals and fine chips, to Russia, the U.S. official said.
Washington is already imposing sanctions on a number of individuals and businesses in Turkey, including the shipping sector, for violating sanctions. Turkey supports Ukraine but opposes Western sanctions on Russia, with which it also has good relations. Despite a good relationship with Moscow, Ankara says sanctions on Turkish soil will not be circumvented.
The second Turkish source, a security official, said the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, will meet with members of the US House of Representatives, on Friday, to discuss Erdogan’s planned visit and other bilateral issues.