Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday.

Turkey, the United Nations, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal on July 22 to reopen three Ukrainian ports for grain that has been stuck for months due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its sixth month.

Çavuşoğlu and Blinken discussed the historic deal and latest developments on the matter, less than a day after the first ship passed an inspection in Istanbul and proceeded to Lebanon.

The deal came after agreement was reached between the parties on the U.N.-led plan during talks in Istanbul to form a coordination center to carry out joint inspections at the entrances and exits of harbors and to ensure the safety of the routes.


The U.S. State Department on Wednesday commended the U.N. and Turkey "for mediating the diplomacy that resulted in today's significant step, which raises hope of bringing the millions of tons of grain stuck at Ukraine's ports to those facing food insecurity arond the world."

"But this is only a first step, and continued implementation of the July 21 U.N.-facilitated deal is essential to bolster food security around the world," it added, while calling on Russia to "meet its commitments, including by facilitating unimpeded exports of agricultural products from Black Sea ports."

Turkey and the U.S. are two significant NATO allies yet the two countries have gone through occasional periods of tensions in the past few years.

Among various problems that harm Turkey-U.S. relations is the U.S.' cooperation with the terrorist organization PKK's Syrian branch, the YPG, its attitude toward the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), disagreements over the S-400, and Washington's sanctions against Ankara. However, the two countries have recently announced the establishment of a new strategic mechanism to focus on areas of cooperation and overcome problems.