WASHINGTON
Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication and Speechwriting of the U.S., Ben Rhodes, said that they were aware of Turkey’s interests in acquiring additional assets as well as unmanned aerial vehicles in order to fight against terror.
Downer said, "That’s something that we have to discuss not just with Turkey, but also with our Congress."
At the press conference in Washington Foreign Press Centre, Rhodes said that they discussed the cooperation over fighting against terror and stated, "We obviously support Turkey’s efforts to combat terrorism, the PKK, and any other group, just as we welcome Turkey’s support for our efforts against al-Qaida."
Rhodes stated, "Obviously, we are familiar with Turkey’s interests in acquiring additional assets, including unmanned aerial vehicles as a part of those counterterrorism efforts. That is something that we have to discuss not just with Turkey, but also with our Congress. So I can not get ahead of those discussions. But obviously, it has been an ongoing topic of consultation between us. We are obviously supportive of Turkey’s counterterrorism efforts broadly, and we’ll have to obviously assess this particular potential support in consultation with our Congress."
Rhodes detailed the meeting between Turkish President Gul and U.S. President Obama and said that the leaders discussed the situation of Syria and stated their talks, "How the United States and Turkey can remain coordinated both bilaterally and through the Friends of Syria Group, and providing assistance to the Syrian people and helping to support the Syrian opposition as they become more organized, and also continuing to apply pressure on the Assad regime. They discussed how to deepen commercial and economic ties between the United States and Turkey. We, I think, share the belief that there can be greater economic cooperation between our two countries, and that would be beneficial. So the two leaders talked about that."
He said that Gul and Obama talked over how to improve commercial and economic relations between Turkey and the U.S. and stated, "We think that more economic cooperation between two countries will bring advantages to bilateral relations."
Rhodes also stressed that both presidents discussed the NATO agenda.
