US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “requested Turkey’s support for peace in Ukraine” during his first meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Tuesday, said the Department of State.
During his two-day trip to Washington, Fidan seeks to bolster Turkey-US ties, which became increasingly frayed during the previous presidency of Joe Biden.
Rubio and Fidan discussed efforts to establish a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported, adding that Ankara supported US initiatives.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turkey has maintained close ties with both countries, having previously offered to mediate talks and hosted an unsuccessful round of peace talks in 2022.
Under the Biden administration, Ankara’s ongoing trade with Russia drew repeated warnings from Washington.
In a change of policy, Rubio “encouraged even greater economic partnership” between the NATO allies, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Fidan is expected to push the US to remove sanctions on Turkey and call for the country to be allowed to rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program, which it helped develop with other NATO partners before it was removed from the project in 2019.
During his first term, Trump also imposed sanctions on Turkey over its acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense missile systems. Further technical talks would be held to resolve “existing problems,” Anadolu reported.
The US statement did not mention defence issues, and Euronews could not independently verify the reports.
Fidan's Washington visit follows a telephone call between the countries’ presidents that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff described as “transformational”.
Erdogan facing nationwide protests
Domestically, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing nationwide protests, following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and other opposition figures.
The State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio had “expressed concerns” over the arrests and demonstrations.
In the immediate aftermath of the mayor’s arrest last week, Bruce said the administration would “not comment on the internal decision-marking processes of another country.”
Trump’s conciliatory approach to Moscow, moreover, has also stoked Ankara’s hopes of improved ties with the White House, while the countries’ presidents seem to enjoy a warm relationship.
“It’s a good country and its leader is good,” Trump said Tuesday at a reception hosted for Tom Barrack, the new US ambassador to Ankara.
