U.S. 'Welcomes' Türkiye's Role In Resolving Karabakh Conflict

The United States 'welcomes' Türkiye playing a productive role in resolving conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the State Department said on Thursday, following Turkish FM Hakan Fidan's visit to Baku, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"We agree with what the foreign minister [Fidan] said, that peace is possible and we would support direct talks between the two parties to achieve that," Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing.

Miller's comments came in light of recent engagements between Washington and Ankara. According to the spokesperson, Karakabh topic comes up 'in all the conversations' between between Secretary Blinken and Minister Fidan. 

"So I won’t give a specific readout, but that is something that they regularly discuss when they either get together in person or when they talk on the phone," he added.

Miller also spoke about Blinken-Hakan discussions over Sweden’s NATO bid, saying that it should be approved as soon as possible. "It’s long overdue.  Sweden is ready to take its place in NATO, and we will continue to engage in conversations with the Turkish Government to push them to approve that accession as soon as possible."

Later on Thursday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden also spoke yesterday with President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan.

"They discussed the importance of strengthening the NATO Alliance, including the importance of welcoming Sweden as an Ally as soon as possible and further enhancing Türkiye’s NATO interoperability, and agreed to remain in close contact in the lead up to the July 2024 NATO Summit in Washington," reads the White House readout.

Biden expressed support for recent constructive steps in the relationship between Greece and Türkiye.

It wasn't immediately clear if the issue of Azerbaijan-Armenia came up during the presidential conversation.