Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has delayed a planned meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, according to a source familiar with the situation and a Turkish official. The meeting, tentatively scheduled for May 9, has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
A White House spokesperson did not confirm the May 9 date but expressed readiness to host President Erdogan at a later mutually convenient time. However, no specific visit has been announced yet.
The Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, mentioned that a new date for the meeting will be arranged soon, attributing the delay to a change in Erdogan’s schedule. However, the exact reason behind the postponement remains unclear.
Although the White House had not formally announced the visit, a US official previously mentioned that May 9 had been offered and accepted for a meeting between Biden and Erdogan following Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to Washington in late March.
If the meeting had taken place on May 9, it would have marked Erdogan’s first bilateral visit to Washington since 2019, when he met with former President Donald Trump. Despite not having a formal bilateral visit, Erdogan and Biden have interacted a few times at international summits and through phone conversations since Biden assumed office in January 2021.
While relations between the US and Turkey have seen some improvement, particularly with Ankara’s approval of Sweden’s NATO membership earlier this year, tensions persist over various issues, including Syria, Russia, and the conflict in Gaza.
Erdogan’s recent activities include a visit to neighboring Iraq and a meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul over the weekend. This meeting marked the first interaction between Erdogan and a Hamas delegation since Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ attack on October 7.
