Erdogan sees 'new beginning' in Turkish-U.S. ties despite Kurdish arms move
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday his visit to the United States next week could mark a "new beginning" in relations between the NATO allies which were shaken by a U.S. decision to arm Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria.
Erdogan repeated Ankara's criticism of President Donald Trump's decision, saying it ran counter to the two countries' strategic interests - but also sought to portray it as a relic of the Obama administration's Middle East policy.
"The United States is still going through a transition period. And we have to be more careful and sensitive," he told a news conference at the Ankara airport before departing for China and the United States, where he will meet Trump for the first time since the president's January inauguration.
"Right now there are certain moves in the United States coming from the past, such as the weapons assistance to the YPG," Erdogan said. "These are developments that are in contradiction to our strategic relations with the United States and of course we don't want this to happen."
Source: reuters.com
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