US committed to deepening cooperation with Turkey: Official

The U.S. is committed to deepening cooperation with Turkey, and the two countries have so many common interests, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs said.

Speaking exclusively to Anadolu Agency during her visit to Turkey, Karen Donfried said she is relatively new in her position and visiting Turkey as early in her tenure as she could is very important to her.

"And that reflects the fact that Turkey is such a longstanding and valued NATO partner. We share so many common interests, and there's so much we can do together. So I was eager to get to Ankara and start those conversations in person," she said.

Responding to a question regarding the dialogue mechanisms between the two countries, Donfried said the timing of her visit is "auspicious" because it came after the in-person meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Rome on the margins of the G20 Summit.

"That conversation led both to agree that we should deepen our dialogue on the many issues where we can work effectively together. So most of my conversations at the Foreign Ministry focused on that topic of how it is that we can fill out that conversation the two presidents had with a concrete proposal.

I'm very much looking forward to continuing that discussion," she said.

 'Dialogue continues on a very regular basis between the US and Turkey'

Regarding whether there are any planned high-level visits from the US to Turkey after her visit, Donfried said, "there certainly will be continued opportunities."

Recalling the recent high-level Defense Group meeting in Washington, she said: "So I want to point out that this dialogue continues on a very regular...

Continue reading on: