US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had bilateral talks at a session of the UN General Assemblyin New York and spoke for international retaliation against the Syrian government, Deputy Presidential Assistant for National Security Ben Rods said, ITAR-TASS reports.
Rods clarified that the sanctions may include political pressure and other measures. Obama noted that there is need to improve ties between Turkey and Israel, that had broken after the incident with the Freedom Flotilla in May 2010. Spokeswoman of the White House Liz-Sherwood Randall said that Obama wants reduction of tensions in the Middle East region as a whole.
The UN published an official report on the incident with the Freedom Flotilla that had happened in May 2010. Turkey sent a humanitarian cargo shipment to the Gaza Sector. Israel attacked the fleet, resulting in nine people dead, including 8 Turks and a US citizen. Ankara broke diplomatic relations with Israel after the refusal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize and pay compensations to families of the killed citizens.
The US and Turkey agreed to cooperate against terrorism due to the terrorist attack in Ankara on Tuesday. The sides are negotiating construction of a base for US drones, that currently take off from Iraq. Turkish authorities plan to use drones against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
