Biden administration makes first call to Turkey

National security adviser Jake Sullivan ran through a panoply of regional issues in a call with his Turkish counterpart.
Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaks to reporters during a roundtable at the Turkish embassy in Washington, DC on April 16, 2019. - Kalin voiced hope that the United States would extend a waiver for Turkey on sanctions against buying oil from Iran. He also said that Turkey was explaining to the United States its purchase of a major arm system from Turkey, a decision that has rattled relations between the NATO allies. (Photo by Shaun TANDON / AFP) (Photo cred
Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaks to reporters during a round table at the Turkish Embassy in Washington, DC, on April 16, 2019. - SHAUN TANDON/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

Top adviser to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Ibrahim Kalin spoke with US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan for nearly an hour on Tuesday in the first official communication between the NATO allies since former President Donald Trump left office.

Sullivan and Kalin discussed building US-Turkey ties and “managing disagreements effectively,” according to a White House press release. Relations between the two allies have been remained thorny since Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system in 2017, a matter Sullivan discussed with his counterpart on Tuesday.

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