Number 200 | June 22, 2012
President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met last Tuesday at the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, to discuss regional developments and bilateral relations with a focus on Syria and Iraq.
The two "discussed the importance of moving toward a political transition in Syria that ends bloodshed and brings about a government that reflects the will of the Syrian people," the White House said in a statement.
President Obama and Prime Minister Erdogan also discussed the current situation in Iraq and voiced their support for maintaining the country’s unity. They further acknowledged the need to enhance counter-terrorism efforts across the region and discussed economic cooperation between the two countries.
The meeting between Obama and Erdogan at the G-20 Summit was held in the wake of a bloody attack launched by the PKK terrorist organization on three military observation points in Turkey’s Hakkari province, which killed eight Turkish troops and heavily wounded 19 others.
The final communiqué of the Summit announced that Turkey would assume the term presidency of the G-20 in 2015.
