BRUSSELS (Dispatches) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan sounded upbeat after their first face-to-face talks on Monday, although they did not announce major breakthroughs in the relationship between the two allies, at odds over Russian weapons, Syria, Libya and other issues.
“We had a positive and productive meeting, much of it one-on-one,” Biden told a news conference after their meeting in Brussels.
“Our teams are going to continue our discussions and I’m confident we’ll make real progress with Turkey and the United States,” he added.
Erdogan characterized his talks with Biden on the sidelines of a NATO summit as “productive and sincere.”
“We think that there are no issues between U.S. and Turkey relationship that are unsolvable and that areas of cooperation for us are richer and larger than problems,” he said.
Despite their publicly optimistic tone, neither provided any details on how exactly they would mend the relationship or lay out steps that would help ease tensions between the NATO allies.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the NATO summit at the headquarters of the Western military alliance in Brussels on Monday.
Ties between the two countries have fractured on a number of issues such as Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems, which the U.S. State Department regards as “incompatible” with Ankara’s position as a NATO ally.
The deal prompted Washington to impose sanctions on Turkey and oust Ankara from an F-35 production program, including a Turkish order to buy jets.
“At a meeting held in this location, it is not possible for the S-400s not to be brought up,” Erdogan said. “Whatever our previous thoughts were on the S-400s, I conveyed those same thoughts to President Biden.”
Back in April, Biden became the first U.S. president to name the 1915 massacre of Armenians by the former Ottoman Empire “genocide,” a redline for Turkey which disputes its responsibility for the atrocities.
The decision outraged and drew sharp rebukes from Turkish leaders.
Turkey and the U.S. are also at odds over the latter’s support for Syria Kurdish militants deemed terrorists by Ankara.
Erdogan said Turkey clearly stated at the NATO summit that the support given to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), should be ended.
Another thorny issue between Ankara and Washington is the U.S.-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of having orchestrated the July 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan. Turkish officials have been demanding Gulen’s extradition, but so far, the U.S. government has refused to do so.