Pompeo, Çavuşoğlu: It Has Been a Constructive Meeting

* Photograph: AA - Archive

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After the US announced its decision to impose sanctions on Turkey in the wake of the US Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson not being released from house arrest, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Singapore today (August 3).

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Çavuşoğlu and Pompeo met within the frame of the 51st Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held in Singapore. The bilateral meeting, which started at 7.30 a.m. local time in Turkey, lasted for around an hour.

The Spokesperson for the US Department of State Heather Nauert made a statement after the meeting and said, "They spoke about a number of issues, and had a constructive conversation. They agreed to continue to try to resolve the issues between our two countries."

Pompeo: It is a demonstration that we are very serious

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also made a statement as he arrived in Singapore and touched upon the the sanctions to be imposed by the US on the Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and the Minister of Justice Abdülhamit Gül.

Referring to the sanctions, Pompeo said, "I hope they will see this for what it is, a demonstration that we're very serious. We consider this one of the many issues that we have with the Turks."

Pompeo also added, "Brunson needs to come home. As do all the Americans being held by the Turkish government. Pretty straightforward. They have been holding these folks for a long time. These are innocent people. We are going to work to see if we can find a way forward; I am hopeful that we can."

Çavuşoğlu: Everything cannot be resolved in one meeting

After his meeting with the US Secretary of State, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also made statement for the television channels.

Çavuşoğlu stated, "In the meeting, we have talked about how we can resolve the existing problems. It has been a very constructive meeting in that sense."

Çavuşoğlu also added, "Of course, it cannot be expected that all existing crises and problems are resolved in a single meeting. But, we will be in a close cooperation in the following period for the resolution of the problems.

"On the other side, we, the two countries, have a working group to resolve these problems. We have evaluated what steps we can take in other issues, including İdlib." (PT/SD)