US Vice President Joe Biden yesterday arrived in Turkey for a three day visit aimed at persuading Turkish leaders to play a bigger role in the coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants, AFP reported.
Biden is expected to seek to soothe tensions that have emerged between the two NATO members, traditionally strong allies, over Turkey's reluctance to play a major role in the fight against the jihadists who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The US number two yesterday evening landed at Istanbul airport and immediately went into dinner talks with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Today he will address a conference before a key meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He is due to leave Istanbul tomorrow.
Ties between the United States and Turkey have strained in recent months over the unwillingness of Turkish leaders to become militarily involved in the US-led campaign against the jihadists.
But in the remarks at the start of their meeting, both Biden and Davutoglu were keen to play up the importance of the US-Turkey relationship.
Praising a "deep-rooted" relationship that has "faced many challenges together", Davutoglu said the two countries were working together on several crises, including Syria.
'Biden's visit is important'
He alluded to recent discussions between top US and Turkish military figures over Turkey's possible role in the coalition.
"Mr Biden's visit is very important for us to have a wider discussion on this preparatory work," he added, without giving further details.
Biden indicated he would not by shy about making clear the demands of the United States, saying: "Friends don't let the other wonder about what they are thinking."
In a show of good humour, he also quipped about Davutoglu's recent move from foreign minister to premier.
"He got a promotion and I am still vice president!" said Biden.
So far, Turkey's sole contribution to the coalition has been allowing a contingent of Iraqi peshmerga Kurdish fighters to transit Turkish soil to fight IS militants for control of the Syrian border town of Kobane.
The government has also so far refused to allow US forces to stage bombing raids from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, forcing them to make far longer sorties from the Gulf.
Turkey has set several conditions for playing a greater role in the coalition.
It wants a clear coordinated strategy to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, a major training and equipping programme for the anti-regime Free Syrian Army and a security zone, backed by a no-fly area, to be set up in northern Syria along the Turkish border.
However US officials indicated in the run-up to the trip that while they are prepared to discuss a security zone it was not an idea that was currently on the table.
Biden and Erdogan were involved in a highly-publicised spat last month after the US vice president suggested Ankara had changed its Syria policy after realising it had encouraged the growth of IS.
Erdogan promptly declared that his relationship with Biden would be "history" for him had he said such a thing and the two sides even argued over whether there had been an apology.
The president earlier this week criticised the lack of progress by the United States in meeting Turkey's demands, saying the coalition "had not made the steps we asked them for".