President Trump's senior advisor visits Turkey

The White House said on Sunday that a senior advisor of US President Donald Trump visited Turkey on February 10 and 11 amid escalating tensions of the two NATO allies over Turkey's attack in Afrin, Syria.

Citing a White House statement, Xinhua reported that H.R. McMaster, Trump's National Security Advisor, met with Ibrahim Kalin, Deputy Secretary General and Spokesperson of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his visit to Istanbul.

During their meeting, Kalin and McMaster affirmed the bilateral strategic partnership and discussed the "priorities and concerns" and common strategic challenges of both countries, said the White House.

It added that they addressed issues affecting bilateral relations in detail and explored ways to expand the joint fight against all forms of terrorism.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will also visit Turkey next week in his Middle East trip and US Secretary of Defense James Mattis is also due to meet his Turkish counterpart Nurettin Canikli in Brussels.

Relations between Washington and Ankara have been highly strained, in part due to US support for the the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

Turkey sees the YPG as Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU.

--IANS

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