Turkey's Erdogan to visit U.S. on May 9, security official says

29/3/2024 18:58

        Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan will visit the United States on May 9, a Turkish security official said on Friday, setting the stage for his first White House meeting during the Biden Administration.
        
        The Washington visit would be Erdogan's first since 2019 when he met then-president Donald Trump, with whom he enjoyed good personal ties. Since President Joe Biden's 2020 election, Ankara has sought another face-to-face meeting.
        
        Ties between the NATO allies, long strained by differences on a range of issues, have thawed since Ankara ratified Sweden's NATO membership bid in January, following a 20-month delay that had caused frustration in Washington.
        
        Yet strains persist, including over northern Syria, where U.S. forces are allied with Kurdish militants that Ankara deems terrorists. Washington has also pressed Ankara to do more to halt goods transiting to Russia that it says are used in Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.