President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief adviser Akif Çağatay Kılıç on Tuesday received U.S. Under Secretary for Management John Bass at the Presidential Complex in Türkiye’s capital Ankara.
Kılıç hosted Bass and an accompanying delegation for a meeting on Turkish-U.S. ties, Israel’s attacks on Palestine, the latest situation in the Russia-Ukraine war, recent tensions between Israel and Iran, as well as the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia, diplomatic sources said.
U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Jeffry Flake was also present for the meeting.
Bass, who served as ambassador to Türkiye from 2014 to 2017, came to Ankara upon the invitation of Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akçapar.
He met with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan a day earlier to discuss Erdoğan’s upcoming visit to Washington, as well as Gaza, Syria and Ukraine, the security situation in the Black Sea region and the fight against terrorist groups, including the PKK, its Syrian offshoot YPG, Daesh and the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Erdoğan will travel to the U.S. on May 9 for his first visit to the White House under Joe Biden and discussions on a wide range of issues, from Gaza to economic ties.
The Turkish president has long been critical of the U.S. stance on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, particularly Washington’s unconditional support of the Netanyahu administration, which he accused of committing crimes against innocent Palestinians. In February, Erdoğan told journalists that the peace process in the conflict failed to bear fruit due to the negative approach of the U.S.
