June 21, 2023
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the margins of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London. Secretary Blinken and Minister Fidan discussed a number of shared regional priorities. Secretary Blinken welcomed Türkiye‘s support for Ukraine, including its work on the Black Sea Grain Initiative. He also stressed the importance of NATO unity in such a critical time and encouraged Türkiye’s support for Sweden to join the NATO Alliance now.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone, and it’s a real pleasure to have this opportunity to meet with a colleague of many years, Hakan Fidan, the new foreign minister of Türkiye. I’m so pleased to be working with you. I had a terrific relationship and partnership with Mevlut Cavusoglu, and now gratified to be working together because we’ve – I’ve had the opportunity over many years to work together, and there is so much that the United States and Türkiye are doing together on the most essential and vital issues of our time, so we have a lot to talk about.
Of course, we’ll be talking about the upcoming NATO Summit, including the accession process for Sweden, our own defense cooperation, and moving forward on a number of issues including energy and economic collaboration. But the relationship between our countries is deep, it’s rich, and, as I said, it’s on many of the most consequential issues of our time. So the opportunity to spend some time with you here in London, very much appreciated.
FOREIGN MINISTER FIDEN: Well, thank you. Thank you, Tony. It’s a pleasure to meet with you here in – today. We previously spoke on the phone following my appointment. Today, we are here in London to demonstrate our support to Ukraine. In this meeting, we will also discuss our bilateral issues. And as you know, the truth is we may not see eye-to-eye on every issue, but our longstanding alliance within NATO and other platforms compel us to continue to work together.
And as you know, President Erdogan and President Biden had established Türkiye-U.S. Strategic Mechanism last year in Madrid, Spain, and the object of mechanism is to address the outstanding issues and to explore the opportunities for deepening our cooperation further. So I am looking forward to working with Secretary Blinken to this end. Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Good. Thanks, everyone.