ANKARA - Turkey's determination to start a fresh dialogue with Washington was revealed at diplomatic talks between U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal, diplomatic sources say. Sherman and Önal's talks on Friday in Ankara were a preliminary to the meeting of U.S. President Joe Biden and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who are expected to have an encounter on the margins of the NATO leaders' summit in Brussels in the second week of June, the sources said, 

  During Sherman's meeting with Turkey's presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalın at the Dolmabahce Office, they discussed the agenda of the upcoming NATO summit on June 14. Kalin and Sherman exchanged views on regional issues and agreed that Turkey and the US should continue joint efforts to maintain peace and stability in regions including Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, official sources said. 

  Expressing satisfaction over the cease-fire in Palestine, the officials emphasised that concrete steps should be taken for permanent peace within the framework of two-state solution.

  Last month, President Joe Biden became the first U.S. president to describe the killings of Ottoman Armenians during World War I as “genocide”. With this acknowledgment, Biden followed through on a campaign promise he made a year ago. Previous presidents had refrained from using the word “genocide” in connection with the events with Armenian people in the early 20th century, and Turkey rejects the allegation that a genocide took place. The Biden declaration was a setback for Erdogan in the wake of Italian prime Minister Mario Draghi recently referring publicly to Erdogan as a "dictator." Both are seen by diplomats as signs that Erdoganìs grip on power may be crumbling." 

  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was quick to condemn the statement on the Armenian slaughter. "We have nothing to learn from anybody on our own past. Political opportunism is the greatest betrayal to peace and justice. We entirely reject this statement based solely on populism,” Çavuşoğlu said in post on Twitter.

  Biden’s declaration marks a major break from precedent, and could signal an increase in tensions with Turkey, a longtime US and NATO ally.

  Turkey’s position on the 1915 events is that Armenians in eastern Anatolia died when they sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces.

  According to Mr. Can Kakışım, a Turkish Professor of International Relations, it was those progressive activists who brought Biden to the presidency and Biden will have to respond to their expectations during his presidency."

  "In Western countries, pressure from supporters is often stronger than pressure from opponents, and Biden should adjust his policies accordingly," he said. He also noted that the progressive quartet consisting of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley grew with the participation of activist politicians such as Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Marie Newman and Mondaire Jones, and became a serious pressure factor on Biden. 

  In contrast to previous president Donald Trump, Biden, with his political line so far, he will follow a more balanced leadership that tends to be first among equals (primus inter pares) in the management mechanism, Kakisim asserts.

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