U.S.-Turkey Joint Statement

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 5, 2019

The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Turkey.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Sedat Onal met February 5 in Washington, D.C. to launch working groups on bilateral and regional affairs. They reaffirmed the strategic importance of the U.S.-Turkish relationship and committed to addressing shared concerns as allies. Following a plenary meeting, senior U.S. and Turkish officials met in working group formats to discuss bilateral cooperation on Syria; counterterrorism; defense matters; and judicial and consular issues. The two sides expressed their determination to continue to work together to achieve further progress on all these areas.