Top Turkish, US officials discuss cooperation within UN framework

Top Turkish and US officials discussed Turkey-US cooperation under the UN framework in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday.

According to the Turkish presidential sources, Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield met in the presidential complex.

They discussed the agenda of the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Joe Biden on the margins of the upcoming NATO Summit.

The meeting between Erdogan and Biden will take place on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO leaders summit in the Belgian capital Brussels and they will "discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues," according to the White House.

Kalin and Thomas-Greenfield discussed regional issues, including Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Palestine, Iran, and Iraq, as well as the issues of migration, humanitarian aid, and the fight against terrorism.

On Syria, they stressed that the Constitutional Committee should be supported and an environment for free and fair elections should be ensured to revive the political solution process in the war-weary country.

They also underlined the importance of cooperation and joint struggle against security threats caused by terrorist organizations.

Highlighting that a new wave of refugees in the region, especially in Idlib, could cause greater humanitarian crises and instability, they said the barriers to the delivery of cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria via Turkey through the UN should be removed and a joint effort should be required.

During the meeting, they also discussed that the international community and the UN should play a more determined and active role to realize the two-state solution in Palestine and to protect the rights of the Palestinians.

They underlined that the joint initiatives should be increased to accelerate the Afghan peace process.

The meeting was also attended by Turkey's Ambassador to the UN Feridun Sinirlioglu and US Ambassador to Ankara David Satterfield.

Thomas-Greenfield's visit in Turkey from June 2 to 4 will "focus on the extensive support provided by the United Nations and its partner agencies to meet the dire humanitarian needs in Syria," according to the US mission.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar.