Cavusoglu will discuss with his US counterpart in a phone call regional issues and bilateral relations

Yesterday, Monday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Çavuşoğlu discussed bilateral relations, and pledged to increase their support and cooperation in order to find a political solution in Syria.

The Turkish minister and his US counterpart discussed regional issues, including the “Gulen” organization, the Syrian Democratic Forces, the “S-400” missile defense system, and developments in the eastern Mediterranean.

Blinken expressed his condolences to his Turkish counterpart for the killing of 13 Turkish citizens in the “Gara” region in northern Iraq.

Blinken called on Turkey to abandon its agreement with Russia regarding the S-400 defense missile system, and the US secretary emphasized his country’s support for the exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press statement on Monday that Anthony Blinken had telephoned his Greek counterpart Nicholas Dendias.

Price added that the two ministers discussed many issues, including stability in the eastern Mediterranean and close cooperation in the defense field.

“Minister Blinken expressed his support for the ongoing exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey, the two countries allied in NATO,” said Price.

At the end of last January, Istanbul hosted the 61st round of exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece to discuss the situation in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean.

The first round of exploratory talks between the two countries began in 2002, in order to prepare the ground for a “just, lasting and comprehensive” solution acceptable to the two parties to address their differences in the aforementioned Bahrain, and the last round (60) was held in early March 2016 in Athens.