ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — US President Joe Biden will meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels in mid-June, discussing bilateral issues, the White House confirmed on Thursday. The White House announced in a statement that Biden will attend the NATO summit on June 14 where he will “affirm the United States’ commitment to NATO, Transatlantic security, and collective defense.” “The President will also meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues,” the statement noted. NATO leaders are expected to meet in Brussels to reaffirm the unity of the 30-nation alliance following tensions between its members. US-Turkey relations have been through a rocky path, especially after Biden recognized the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire in late April. Erdogan warned that this move has “further regressed” their relations. Erdogan said on Tuesday that he will discuss Ankara-Washington tensions with Biden during the meeting, adding “preliminary preparations” have already been made. "At the meeting, we will ask why the Turkey-US relations are going through such a tense period," the Turkish president said, according to Anadolu Agency (AA). An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were victims of a wide Ottoman campaign beginning in 1915, the exact date the genocide ended is a matter of disagreement. Among other issues between both NATO allies is the US support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose dominant forces, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), is considered a terrorist group by Ankara. Turkey claims that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which it sees as a terrorist organization, calling on the US to suspend its support for the group. “We have provided every piece of evidence revealing the ties between PKK and YPG/PYD but they choose to turn a blind eye to these,” said Erdogan. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) is the political arm of the YPG.
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