US ‘committed to resolving issues with ally Turkey’

Although there are challenges that cause frictions and disagreements between Turkey and the United States, Washington is committed to resolving the pending issues with its ally, a senior U.S. official has said, underscoring that the Turkish-American strategic alliance is much stronger than any relationship Turkey might have with Russia.

"There are significant challenges on our relationship. We need to address these challenges for a resolution. We address these challenges within the framework of a strategic partnership and strategic alliance," the official told a small group of reporters in Ankara on Feb. 13.

Although describing the Turkish-American relationship as a strategic one with continued engagement on key issues, the official admitted that there are disagreements between the two. "That's normal. But fundamentally at the core, the U.S. and Turkey interests are considerably overlapped. That's certainly true with respect to Syria, with respect to Iraq and to Libya," the official said.

The frequency of the Turkish-American dialogue has visibly increased in the past week after the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, has intensified its offensive in Idlib and killed 13 Turkish soldiers and one civilian. The changing circumstances in Syria have paved the way for two allies to find a new common to fix the broken ties.

One of the challenges in front of rehabilitating the bilateral ties is Turkey's purchase and deployment of the S-400 air defense systems from Russia, which triggered sanctions from the U.S., including blocking the delivery of F-35 aircrafts to Turkey.

"This remains as a significant concern," the official said, recalling the reservations and concerns expressed by a number of congressmen as well as the administration on S...