Erdoğan, Biden discuss Ukraine-Russia conflict over phone

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a 45-minute phone call with his American counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday to discuss several issues including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ankara-Washington ties, according to a statement by Turkey's Communications Directorate.

Erdoğan stressed on the talks the importance of Turkey's facilitator position in search for solution, in case Russia-Ukraine crisis deepens further.

President Erdoğan added that even organizing Turkey-Russia-Ukraine tripartite meeting in Antalya is a diplomatic victory by itself.

In a separate statement, the White House said that U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan discussed their "shared concern" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine in a call on Thursday.

Biden expressed "appreciation" for Turkey's efforts to support a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, the White House said in a statement.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki added the call lasted for about an hour.

The foreign ministers of Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia met early Thursday with the aim of reaching a lasting peace as the Russia-Ukraine war has entered its third week.

The high-level tripartite meeting began at 11.20 a.m. local time (0820GMT) on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey and lasted for more than an hour.

TURKEY'S DEMAND FOR NEW AIRCRAFT, F-16 JETS MODERNIZATION

Erdoğan said he expects that Ankara's demand, which includes the purchase of 40 new aircraft from the US and modernization of Turkey's F-16 jets, will be finalized as soon as possible.

Time has already come to lift all unjust sanctions on Turkey in the defense industry, added the Turkish president.

In 2019, Washington announced that it was taking Turkey out of the F-35 program over Ankara's purchase of Russia's S-400 air defense system.

Turkey, however, stressed that the S-400s would not be integrated into NATO systems and so pose no threat to the alliance or its armaments.

Ankara has also repeatedly proposed setting up a commission to clarify the issue.