Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the sidelines of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly.
On his personal account on Twitter after the meeting, the Turkish Foreign Minister stated, “I discussed the latest developments in Afghanistan, Syria and the Caucasus with my colleague Blinken. We will continue our dialogue with the United States on regional issues and joint cooperation at all levels.”
On Thursday, in a separate statement, Çavuşoğlu noted that they discussed the Afghanistan issue with Blinken, statin g that negotiations are continuing regarding the operation of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
Regarding the US’ stance on the issue, Çavuşoğlu said, “They support us to operate the airport together with Qatar. They have supported this issue since the beginning. But first, the Afghan side needs to make some preparations and eliminate the deficiencies on their side. The problems need to be resolved,” he said.
On the other hand, the US State Department published a short dialogue between the two ministers before the meeting and a brief statement about the meeting.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, “Foreign Minister Antony J. Blinken met with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss cooperation between the US and Turkey on various issues. Turkey is an important NATO ally. During the meeting, joint studies on Afghanistan and regional issues were discussed.”
The 76th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday, September 14, 2021.
