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Turkey's ErdoÄŸan expected to visit US in May

03 April 2013 04:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan is set to visit the US on May 16 to discuss the festering Syrian conflict, which entered its third year, and other regional and global issues, diplomatic sources said, APA reports quoting Todays Zaman.

ErdoÄŸan is expected to meet with US President Barack Obama who previously declined to give a date to the Turkish side for a bilateral meeting.

Obama, who recently played a key role in mending ties between Turkey and Israel during his visit to the latter in late March, has close relationship with Prime Minister ErdoÄŸan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 22, the last day of Obama's official trip to Israel, offered an apology to Turkey for a 2010 raid on an aid flotilla that resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish American, ending a deep crisis in ties between the two former allies.

The breakthrough came as a result of what appears to be a US bid to normalize relations between the two former allies. News of the apology came just after President Barack Obama said that ErdoÄŸan and Netanyahu spoke on the phone in late March.

Turkish-US ties improved with strong cooperation between two leaders in order to address the sustaining regional and global challenges.

The protracted Syrian civil war is expected to be the paramount topic during ErdoÄŸan's visit to the White House. While Turkey expects a leadership role from the US to end the Syrian conflict, the Obama administration is extremely cautious and prefers diplomatic efforts to address the ongoing crisis that claimed more than 70,000 lives over the past two years in the war-torn country.

Ankara and Washington has differences over how to handle with the two-year-old Syrian conflict as Turkey expects a more robust action from the international community, and the US in particular, amid worsening humanitarian crisis.

The Obama administration has refused to give lethal aid to opposition fighters so far, citing its concerns that the arms could end up at wrong hands.