U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed a Syrian transition of power away from the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Biden described his more than four hours of talks Saturday with Erdogan as frank and direct. Though Washington and Ankara are divided over the strategy to fight Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, with Erdogan calling for a broader war against the militant group, relations between the allies remain strong, Biden stressed at a joint news conference.
“The depth and resolve of that partnership is strong as ties [have] ever been, in spite of the fact that the world and that we are collectively facing some difficult problems right now,” Biden said, VOA informs.
Erdogan previously has insisted that if the United States wants Turkish help, it must focus less on fighting IS extremists and more on toppling the Assad regime. On Saturday, he said Turkey will continue working closely with the United States, and he called Biden’s visit “very meaningful.”
