US affirms ties with Turkey vital

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (KUNA) -- A senior US official said Turkey's cooperation is essential for protecting American interests in and outside the Middle East.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, affirmed in a phone briefing to the press that the US would not easily give up the relationship with Turkey, a main ally for Washington since 70 years ago.
He was speaking on the occasion of a crucial visit to the US by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has already arrived in the US, ahead of scheduled talks with President Donald Trump.
In the same briefing, another official who also spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated that President Trump's hosting of his Turkish counterpart affirmed his diplomatic approach in dealing with Ankara.
"Full and frank engagement is essential to addressing the challenges facing this relationship," the official said. "Obviously, we support this important visit and the President's emphasis on diplomacy as his chosen path to resolutions of conflicts." Going into the meeting, the President's priorities for northeast Syria in particular "are clear. We want to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to prevent humanitarian atrocities against religious and ethnic minorities." ISIS is the so-called Islamic State, known in Arabic as "Daesh." Washington has repeatedly criticized Turkey's recent military operation in northern Syria.
The US had to relocate some American troops who were deployed there due the operation, which Ankara said was necessary to dislodge armed Kurds "advocating terrorism" against Ankara.
On the issue of Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles, another topic that caused strains in the Turkish-US ties, he said, "We, as allies, need to resolve this issue of the S-400. One has to move, and then the other has to move .. We are very, very frank about how these things need to be resolved and what the preferred solutions are." (end) asj.rk