US President Joe Biden will warn Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting on Sunday that any precipitous actions would not benefit US-Turkish relations and that crises should be avoided, a US official said on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Erdogan earlier this month ordered 10 envoys, including the US ambassador, to be declared "persona non grata" for seeking the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala, though he later withdrew the threat to expel them.
"Certainly the President will indicate that we need to find a way to avoid crises like that one going forward and precipitous action is not going to benefit the US-Turkey partnership and alliance," the US official was quoted as having told reporters.
Biden, who is in Rome for the G20 summit, will also discuss Turkey's request to purchase F-16 fighter jets, its defense relationship with the United States and a range of regional issues such as Syria and Libya.
Relations between the US and Turkey have soured in recent years, after Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system that the US believes can be used to spy on Western defenses.
In response to the purchase, the US sanctioned Turkey’s military procurement agency and expelled Turkey from the F-35 program, under which Western allies produce the next-generation fighter jet's parts and secure its early purchasing rights.
Turkey has repeatedly made clear it will use the Russian system despite US threats of sanctions.
The relations with the US became more complicated when President Joe Biden, who has also made a point of highlighting Turkey's deteriorating record on human rights, took three full months after his swearing-in ceremony before placing his first call to Erdogan.
In June, Erdogan and Biden held what the Turkish President described as a "fruitful and sincere" meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.
Last month, Erdogan acknowledged that relations with his Biden had "not gotten off to a good start" since the latter's arrival in the White House.
Despite the tensions, Erdogan said earlier this month that the US had proposed the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey in return for its investment in the F-35 program.
US lawmakers have urged the Biden administration not to sell F-16s to Turkey and threatened to block any such exports on the grounds that Turkey had purchased Russian missile defense systems and "behaved like an adversary".