U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has extended an invitation to visit Washington on May 18 to discuss the recently launched strategic mechanism between Turkey and the U.S., Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday.
Speaking following the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Çavuşoğlu reiterated that U.S. President Joe Biden proposed to Turkey to set up a strategic mechanism to solve existing problems and focus on a positive agenda and that Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met recently in the capital Ankara to initiate the process.
"We want this mechanism to be target-oriented and fruitful," Çavuşoğlu said, indicating that Turkey and the U.S. have failed to enact previous mechanisms and agreements, including the Manbij deal.
The announcement of the new mechanism comes after the decades-old partnership between the two NATO allies, Turkey and the U.S., saw unprecedented tumult in the past five years over disagreements on many issues, including Syria and Ankara’s closer ties with Moscow. There are additional sources of strain for the two countries, including the U.S. support for the PKK terrorist organization's Syrian wing, the YPG, whom Turkey considers a serious threat; and the continued U.S. residency of FETÖ figures, including its head Fethullah Gülen, who plotted the failed coup attempt against the Turkish government in 2016.
"We may not agree on all issues. There are also issues by which we are disturbed – especially the U.S. still aiding the YPG/PKK in Syria, giving it training and weapons. This is an issue of national security for us."
The PKK is a designated terrorist organization in the U.S., Turkey and the European Union, and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a major strain on bilateral relations with Ankara.
The U.S. primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group. But Turkey strongly opposed the YPG's presence in northern Syria. Ankara has long objected to the U.S.' support for the YPG, a group that poses a threat to Turkey and that terrorizes local people, destroying their homes and forcing them to flee.
Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the U.S. has provided military training and given truckloads of military support to the YPG, despite its NATO ally's security concerns. Underlining that one cannot support one terrorist group to defeat another, Turkey conducted its own counterterrorism operations, over the course of which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said in a letter to Congress that the Biden administration believes a potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to NATO ally Turkey would be in line with U.S. national security interests and would also serve NATO's long-term unity.
Commenting on the issue, Çavuşoğlu said he welcomed the reports submitted by the U.S. administration to Congress and that talks on procuring new F-16 jets as well as modernization kits from the U.S. are going well. "However, at the last stage, Congress must give approval."
The sale of U.S. weapons to NATO ally Turkey became contentious as the U.S. has unilaterally removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program after Ankara acquired Russian-made S-400 air defense missile systems.
Washington has also imposed sanctions on the country’s defense industry officials.
Turkey has called the move unjust and demanded reimbursement for its $1.4 billion payment. Lockheed Martin Corp. makes the F-35 and the F-16.