Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on May 9, according to a Bloomberg report. However, the White House has not confirmed the meeting.
As SKAI’s correspondent in Turkey, Manolis Kostidis, reported, the meeting between Joe Biden and Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not yet been confirmed, while the White House spokesman, John Kirby, stated that there is no visit with Erdogan in the American president’s schedule.
Kirby was asked whether Erdogan’s meeting with Hamas leader Haniyeh on Saturday would affect Erdogan’s meeting with Biden. Kirby surprised reporters by saying: “There is nothing on the schedule to talk about in terms of a specific visit by President Erdogan. So, I have no comment on that.”
The importance of an Erdogan-Biden meeting
The meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Joe Biden comes at a time when the Israel-Hamas war is raging and relations between Iran and Israel remain highly strained, raising fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.
As the Bloomberg article specifically mentions, the two leaders will meet at a sensitive moment in their political careers. Biden is facing a rematch with his opponent Donald Trump in the November election.
In fact, a Bloomberg poll this week showed Biden leading in only one of the seven US states that usually determine the outcome.
On the other hand, Recep Tayyip Erdogan suffered a major defeat in the municipal elections, with voters – in most areas – “blackening” the mayoral candidates of Erdogan’s party.
The same publication notes that Erdogan still plays an important role in the international arena. On Friday, for example, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte plans to visit Istanbul to seek the support of the Turkish president to become the next NATO secretary general.
Last weekend, Erdogan met with the political leader of Hamas to discuss a possible permanent ceasefire and speeding up humanitarian aid to Gaza.
It is noted that unlike the USA and the European Union, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
The relations between Turkey and the US are on a good level, as in a few weeks they managed to resolve any differences regarding the sale of F-16s to the neighboring country, Sweden’s accession to NATO and the sale of F-35s to Greece, concludes the publication.
