Joe Biden speaks with Turkish President; agrees to meet at NATO summit

U.S. President Joe Biden, in a phone call on Friday, spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the White House reported.

“President Biden spoke today with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, conveying his interest in a constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements,” the White House said in a statement.

It said the two leaders agreed to meet on the margins of the NATO summit in June to have a wider conversation about their relations.

The much-anticipated phone call took place more than three months after Biden’s inauguration in January, the conversation is the first direct one between the leaders of the two NATO allies whose ties have been deeply frayed.

The delay is widely seen as a cold shoulder to Erdogan, who had enjoyed close ties with former President Donald Trump.

The call took place a day before Biden’s expected declaration of the 1915 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire constituting genocide, a move that will certainly infuriate Ankara and further damage ties.

The White House account of the call made no mention of the issue.