Turkey says optimistic about Erdogan-Biden meeting at NATO summit

Turkey is hoping that a meeting between President Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden at next week's NATO summit will yield positive results, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, adding the meeting would be "critical".

Biden and Erdogan will meet to discuss Syria, Afghanistan and other regional issues next week and will also discuss the "significant differences" between Washington and Ankara in their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office, the U.S. national security advisor said on Monday.

Speaking at an interview with state broadcaster TRT Haber, Cavusoglu said it was not easy for Turkey and the United States to build cooperation while disagreements over a host of issues remain, adding that both sides needed to take mutual steps to improve their strained ties.