Top U.S. and Turkish officials held talks in Washington, D.C. as the two countries explore a way forward in relations under the new Trump administration. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's chief adviser on foreign policy and security, Akif Çağatay Kılıç met Wednesday with U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz for talks.
During his visit to Washington, Kılıç also held talks with President Donald Trump's Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg as well as members of the U.S. Congress, including Senator Jim Risch, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Representative Rick Crawford and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairperson Brian Mast.
Participating in roundtable meetings upon invitation from various think tanks based in the U.S., Kılıç drew attention to Turkish-U.S. relations, Türkiye's proposed solutions to regional conflicts and clashes and steps that could be taken together with the U.S. and European allies to establish regional stability.
Separately, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also in the U.S. capital to meet his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, to discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including the need for a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
The meeting followed up on issues discussed during a March 16 phone call between Erdoğan and Trump.
Erdogan said Monday that relations with the U.S. can gain "significant momentum." "We have discussed many important issues, including the lifting of all the obstacles before our $100 billion trade goal, during our pretty sincere phone call. We discussed in detail current critical developments in our region, Syria in particular," he told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday, Erdoğan told reporters that he hoped to visit the U.S. soon.
