Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reiterated Türkiye's support for Ukraine in his first in-person meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London on Wednesday.
Fidan’s meeting, held on the sidelines of an international convention to support Ukraine amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, comes after the former intelligence chief was appointed to his current office a few weeks ago.
Turkish media outlets quoted Fidan saying that Türkiye attended the London conference to support Ukraine and telling Blinken that although they may disagree on some issues, they were required to work together for relations within NATO and other platforms.
Although the two countries may not see eye to eye on every issue, Fidan noted that their longstanding alliance within NATO and other platforms compel them to continue working together.
Recalling that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Joe Biden established Türkiye-U.S. strategic mechanisms last year in the Spanish capital Madrid, Fidan said the goal of the mechanism is to address the outstanding issues and explore opportunities for deeper cooperation.
For his part, Blinken said it is a pleasure to meet with the "colleague of many years," referring to Fidan.
He praised bilateral relations, saying, "There's so much the U.S. and Türkiye are doing together on the most essential, vital issues."
He underlined that during the meeting, the upcoming NATO summit, Sweden's accession to the alliance and defense cooperation between the U.S. and Türkiye will be on the agenda, as well as bilateral ties.
"And moving forward, a number of issues, including energy and economic collaboration, but the relationship between our countries is deep and rich," Blinken added.
According to Turkish diplomatic sources, the duo discussed the latest situation in Ukraine, NATO's enlargement and normalization between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the context of developments in the South Caucasus region.
Along with bilateral ties, the Black Sea grain deal, which was implemented with the initiative of Türkiye, was also discussed during the talks.
The two ministers arrived at the InterContinental London hotel, where they were attending the Ukraine Recovery Conference.
Fidan also held separate talks with Danish counterpart Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Italy's Antonio Tajani, Germany's Annalena Baerbock, Austria's Alexander Schallenberg, France's Catherine Colonna, Croatia's Gordan Grlic Radman, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, and Canada's International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan.
