ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — United States President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet face-to-face for the first time in Biden’s presidency in Brussels on Monday. A host of contentious topics are on the agenda, including Syria, Afghanistan, the Armenian genocide, and Turkey’s purchase of a Russian air defense system.
They are expected to meet at 5pm local time on the sidelines of a NATO summit that is bringing together national leaders to reaffirm the unity of the 30-nation military alliance. Biden, who attended G7 meetings in the United Kingdom before flying to Brussels, is coming with a message of renewed American engagement with its allies. Erdogan is hopeful they will find resolution for some longstanding issues.
Relations between Washington and Ankara have been thorny in recent years, caused in part by America’s recognition of the Armenian genocide on April 24, US support for Syrian Kurds, and Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 defense system.
This will be Biden's first meeting with Erdogan since his inauguration. The two met previously when Biden was vice president.
“I am not a person that is newly acquainted with the US and its leaders. We had a process with the [George] Bush administration, with Mr. [Barack] Obama, with [Donald] Trump; and now we are living a process with Biden. I cannot say we had bad days with all of them,” Erdogan said during a press conference on Sunday before talking off for Brussels.
“We usually undertook very successful works with them. Yet, should you ask if Turkey’s expectations from the US were fully fulfilled during these works,’ I cannot say ‘yes.’ I hope fulfillment will be achieved in the period ahead,” Erdogan added.
He described Biden as a “friend” and hoped their meeting “will have taken steps that will let April 24 be forgotten,” referring to the date when Biden officially recognized the Armenian genocide – a decision slammed by Erdogan.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters en route to Brussels on Sunday that Erdogan and Biden will “cover the range of issues in our bilateral relationship, as well as a number of important regional issues, from Syria, to Libya, to the eastern Mediterranean.”
The two will also talk about a US plan to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan and “how we ensure that our embassies can stay in a safe and secure way in Afghanistan to be able to do all the things that we want to do in providing for the Afghan government and security forces and people,” Sullivan added.
Erdogan has offered Turkish involvement in Afghanistan. “Turkey is the only reliable country to maintain the process there after the US’ withdrawal. Our diplomats have already given the necessary answers to their counterparts on this issue. They are also happy and pleased about this. We will discuss Afghanistan and other issues with them,” he said.
According to Sullivan, Biden and Erdogan will discuss Syria, including humanitarian access to the country. Security Council authorization for United Nations aid delivery through a last remaining border crossing between Turkey and Idlib will expire on July 10 and the US is leading efforts to renew the authorization.
Last year, the al-Yarubiyah crossing, which links Kurdish-held northeast Syria (Rojava) with Iraq’s Nineveh province, was closed to UN aid, a move that has caused problems for Kurds who must now receive international assistance through Damascus. Closure of the al-Yarubiyah crossing left Rojava health services underserved during a global pandemic.
It is not known if Biden and Erdogan will also discuss US support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), whose dominant group, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), is considered a terrorist group by Ankara.
