By Burcu Arik and Nilay Kar
ISTANBUL
The Turkish foreign minister’s trip to Washington scheduled for March 19 might be delayed due to the changing of the guard at the U.S. State Department, Turkey’s top diplomat said on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's remarks came during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his pick to be the country’s new secretary of state, ousting Rex Tillerson.
"We would like to work with new secretary of state in the same vein," said Cavusoglu.
Turkey and the U.S. have been trying to iron out a number of issues, principally concerning the terrorist YPG/PKK in Syria, which the U.S. has worked with, calling it a "reliable ally."
In the Russian capital, Cavusoglu is also expected to attend a series of meetings, including the sixth Turkish-Russian Joint Strategic Planning Group Meeting.
During the press conference, Lavrov accused the U.S. of trying to split Syria.
“I know the U.S.’ intention of establishing a base in Syria,” said Lavrov. "They are resorting to some methods to cause Syria to split.”
Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.
According to UN officials, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.
Early delivery of S-400 defense systems
Lavrov also said his country would accelerate initial deliveries of the S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey.
Cavusoglu showed his approval, saying: "The sooner we receive the S-400s, the better."
Russia will begin delivery of the S-400 air defense systems with Turkey in early 2020, Russia's presidential aide on military cooperation told a local television station on Monday.
"Turkey expressed a wish to accelerate its implementation and we managed to find the most appropriate solution as we agreed to accelerate the contract’s implementation, so I think we will begin to fulfill it sometime in early 2020," Vladimir Kozhin told Rossiya 24.
Last December, Turkey announced that it had concluded an agreement with Russia for the purchase of two S-400 systems by early 2020.
The S-400 system has been in the inventory of the Russian army since 2007.
This missile system is able to detect targets as much as 600 kilometers (372.8 miles) away and eliminate targets such as stealth aircraft and ballistic missiles.
