Biden-Erdogan meeting at Rome yet to be arranged, White House says

The U.S. government is still working on finalising a possible meeting between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the margins of a G20 summit in Rome this week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a press conference on Tuesday, Ahval reported.

On Wednesday, Erdogan said Rome’s agenda seem to have changed, and probably not in Rome, but they will have a meeting with Biden in Glasgow, Scotland, during the COP26 climate summit, which starts on Sunday, Turkish Daily Sabah reported.

Turkish media aligned with Erdogan’s government announced last month that the two leaders would meet at the G20 summit, which takes place at the weekend.

“We have space in the schedule which we are working to finalise for additional bilateral meetings…I do not have anything to predict quite yet and hopefully with each day that follows we’ll have more for those of who are on the plane,” Psaki said.

On his way back to Turkey from Azerbaijan, Erdogan told reporters that their top agenda in the Glasgow meeting is going to be the F-35 issue.

Turkey has paid $1.4 billion for the F-35 fighter jets and a repayment plan needs to be discussed, Erdoğan said.

Turkey’s purchase of a first batch of the Russian S-400 defence system in 2019 prompted the Pentagon to suspend it from a programme to develop and purchase F-35 stealth fighter jets. In December, former U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey’s defence procurement agency.

Earlier this month, Erdoğan said the U.S. had proposed to sell his government F-16 planes, to offset its investment in the F-35 stealth fighter programme, however,

Washington said that it has not made an offer to Ankara for financing the purchase of F-16 fighter jets, the State Department said on Monday.

According to some information Turkey have received at a lower level, Washington has a plan to make a pay back with F-16s, Erdogan said on Wednesday.

“We will find out if it’s true or not. And of course, it would be appropriate for me to talk to Biden at the highest level,” he said.

“If so, we would have reach an agreement accordingly.”

Psaki also spoke of a diplomatic crisis last week over a joint call by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and nine other envoys for Turkey to release jailed philanthropist and human rights activist Osman Kavala. She said the United States had not backed down from the statement’s contents. Kavala has been imprisoned since 2017 without a conviction, prompting calls by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for his immediate release.

“We continue to speak out about the detainment of activists, journalists, and individuals around the world including in Turkey. We also raise issues privately and publicly where we have concerns as we have in this case,” Psaki said.

“Turkey remains a NATO ally, a country that we will continue to work with on a range of joint interests moving forward,” she said.