Türkiye, US to hold consultations under strategic mechanism

Ankara and Washington will hold consultations under the strategic mechanism on June 23 in Washington to discuss bilateral relations, regional issues, and international developments.

According to the foreign ministry, an interagency delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akçapar will hold consultations with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and senior US officials, Daily Sabah reports.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Joe Biden met in Rome on Oct. 31, 2021, where they agreed to establish a strategic mechanism that promotes high-level dialogue and addresses issues on which Türkiye and the US do not fully agree, along with issues they are working on.

Türkiye-US relations have been strained in recent years due to the latter's cooperation with the PYD-YPG/PKK terrorist organisation in Syria, its stance toward the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), disagreements over Türkiye's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defence system and Washington's sanctions against Türkiye.

The sale of US weapons to Türkiye became contentious after Ankara acquired Russian-made S-400 defence missile systems. The deal triggered US sanctions and Türkiye’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program.

Meanwhile, Türkiye has long criticised US support for the terrorist YPG. While the US claims it fights Daesh terrorists with the help of its YPG allies, Türkiye says using one terror group to fight another makes no sense.

The PKK is a designated terrorist organisation in the US, Türkiye and the European Union, and Washington's support for its Syrian affiliate has been a significant strain on bilateral relations with Ankara. The US primarily partnered with the YPG in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Daesh terrorist group.

On the other hand, Türkiye strongly opposed the YPG's presence in northern Syria. Ankara has long objected to the US support for the YPG, a group that poses a threat to Türkiye and that terrorizes local people, destroying their homes and forcing them to flee.

Under the pretext of fighting Daesh, the US 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, Türkiye conducted its counterterrorism operations, throughout which it has managed to remove a significant number of terrorists from the region.