BIDEN ADDS ERDOGAN TO LIST OF WORLD LEADERS HE’LL MEET IN EUROPE

US President Joe Biden will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels this month, the White House said, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

"The full range of bilateral and regional issues," will be on the agenda during their meeting on June 14, a statement said.

In April, Biden provoked outrage in Turkey by recognizing the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Earlier, during the 2020 election campaign, Biden promised to take a tougher course towards Erdogan, whom he called an "autocrat."

Biden will have a jampacked schedule when he begins his first trip abroad as commander-in-chief next week.

In addition to the NATO talks, he will also attend a G7 summit in the southwest of England and participate in an EU-US summit in Brussels.

Along the way he will meet with Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Belgian royalty.

But the most anticipated meeting comes at the end, when he holds face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Swiss city of Geneva on June 16.

"This trip will highlight America’s commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the trans-Atlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America’s interests," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

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