* Photo: Dursun Aydemir/ Brussels-AA
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US President Joe Biden and Turkey's President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met following the Leaders' Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Belgium's capital city of Brussels yesterday evening (June 14).
While the meeting's date was set on April 23, it was expected to begin at 6 p.m. local time in Turkey. The officials from Turkey made no statement as to the delay, which was later announced by White House sources.
As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the meeting began at 7 p.m. and lasted for 45 minutes. Following the one-to-one meeting, the delegations accompanying the presidents also joined.
On the other side, Jennifer Jacobs, a reporter for Bloomberg News, tweeted a message implying that the meeting may not have started at 7 p.m.: "Turkish officials are tweeting photos of President Biden meeting with Erdogan, while the White House traveling press pool, which was supposed to cover the beginning of the bilat, is outside waiting out in the hallway."
NOTE: Earlier in the day, Erdoğan met with France's President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) Boris Johnson and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. It was expected that the issues of Turkey's purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia, human rights and regional conflicts would be on the agenda of Erdoğan-Biden talks.
Did Biden say, 'It was a very good meeting?'
According to the first news reported in the press, Biden reportedly said, "It was a very good meeting." He refused to comment any further.
Josh Wingrove, a Bloomberg News correspondent for the White House, tweeted, "After press held outside the Biden-Erdogan meeting for over 90 minutes, we went in. Biden said it was a 'very good meeting' and declined to speak beyond that. We thought he may have, and Jonanthan Lemire said we couldn't hear. 'I didn't say anything,' Biden said. Then we left."
* Photo: AA/ Brussels
Biden: It was positive and productive
In the press conference held with a three-hour delay, US President Biden talked about both the NATO Summit and his meeting with Erdoğan. Biden briefly said the following about Turkey:
"I just finished a meeting with President Erdoğan of Turkey. We had a positive and productive meeting, much of it one-on-one. We had detailed discussions on how to proceed on a number of — a number of issues. Our two countries have big agendas.
"Our teams are going to continue our discussions, and I'm confident we'll make real progress with Turkey and the United States."
Beginning his remarks, President Biden also touched upon the US' struggle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic:
"We've made enormous progress in the United States. Much of the country is returning to normal, and our economic growth is leading the world, and the number of cases and deaths are dropping dramatically. But there's still too many lives being lost.
"We're still averaging, in the last seven days, the loss of 370 deaths per day — 370 deaths. That's significantly lower than at the peak of this crisis, but it's still a real tragedy. We're approaching a sad milestone: almost 600,000 lost lives because of COVID-19 in America.
"My heart goes out to all those who have lost a loved one."
Biden also answered a question about the situation of dissident Aleksey Navalny from Russia and his meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
"Every world leader here, as a member of NATO, that spoke today — and most of them mentioned it — thanked me for meeting with Putin now. Every single one that spoke," said Biden, adding:
"And Navalny's death would be another indication that Russia has little or no intention of abiding by basic fundamental human rights. It would be a tragedy. It would do nothing but hurt his relationships with the rest of the world, in my view, and with me."
Press conference by Erdoğan
Turkey's President Erdoğan also held a press conference following the meeting with US President Biden.
As reported by the state-run AA, President and AKP Chair Erdoğan said, "Turkey and the US have agreed to use direct channels of dialogue effectively and regularly, befitting the two allies and strategic partners," adding, "There is no issue that cannot be resolved in Turkey-US relations... The areas of cooperation are wider and richer than the problem areas."
"We evaluated the steps that can be taken to fully realize the economic potential between us, taking into account the new opportunities that will arise after the coronavirus pandemic," said Erdoğan further, putting an emphasis on the importance of reviving the existing bilateral cooperation and regional consultation mechanisms between the two countries.
Noting that his meeting with Joe Biden was positive for relations, President Erdoğan said that he invited the US President to visit Turkey, adding that Biden will probably visit the country soon.
Responding to a question about Turkey's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense missile system, President Erdoğan stated, "We expressed the same thoughts on the S-400s to the President as we had before, and also expressed the same thoughts about the F-35s."
"Of course, all these efforts do not end here today. In the next process, our foreign ministers and defense ministers will meet their counterparts to work on this process," he said further about the issue.
On the issue of Afghanistan, President Erdoğan said that "the US support in diplomatic, logistical and financial matters is crucial if the Turkish troops in Afghanistan are asked not to leave the country."
Noting that the reality of the Taliban cannot be set aside, he said, "We can continue our talks with them in different steps."
On alliance relations, he expressed "hope that all NATO allies will show full solidarity with Turkey by putting aside shallow political calculations."
"NATO should take an active role where the alliance's security umbrella is needed, from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from Europe to Asia," he noted, adding, "Both the decisiveness and responsibilities of NATO have increased in the maintenance of global stability. Member states should uphold their founding principles and strengthen the alliance."
First phone call after three months
Joe Biden was inaugurated as the US President on January 20, 2021. He called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 23, some three months after he had taken office. The phone call came a day before Biden recognized the Armenian Genocide. It was reported by Reuters that the sources speaking to the agency said that Biden told Erdoğan about the recognition.
On April 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Biden became the first US President to use the word "genocide" in the official White House statement and the second President after Ronald Reagan to use the word. Turkey did not make a harsh statement in response. (PT/SD)
