The assistant Secretary of the U.S visits Turkish FM

Bloomfield met with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal, Deputy Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug and other officials, and exchanged views about global defense strategy of the United States.

Following his meetings with Foreign Ministry officials, Bloomfield told reporters that his visit was a continuation of visit of Marc Grossman, the Undersecretary of the U.S. State Department for Political Affairs, to Ankara.

Bloomfield said that Turkish officials did not lay down any proposal and neither did he, adding that he and Turkish officials exchanged views on the global defense strategy.

Consultations on the issue would continue also after the NATO summit to be held in Istanbul, Turkey between June 28 and 29, Bloomfield stated.

Bloomfield refrained from forecasting on when this process would end but said that the United States continued intensive talks on the issue around the world.

Sources said that Bloomfield and accompanying delegation did not demand anything from Turkey. The U.S. delegation told Turkish side during today’s meetings that military deployment of the United States was made according to the Cold War era, and that the United States wanted to re-develop its defense strategy.

The same sources added that Turkey’s possible contributions to the defense strategy would be discussed after the United States took a concrete and final decision on the issue.