Çavuşoğlu, Blinken meet on sidelines of UNGA

NEW YORK

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York on Sept. 20 and discussed the Black Sea grain deal and tension in the South Caucasus.

Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter that he discussed with Blinken “bilateral issues, the war in Ukraine and regional developments.”

Çavuşoğlu and Blinken discussed tensions in the South Caucasus, and Blinken noted that the U.S. continues to engage to facilitate dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia and help achieve a long-term political settlement to the conflict, a readout of the meeting by the U.S. State Department said.

They also discussed ways to advance coordination and NATO unity in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, said the statement.

Blinken commended Turkish diplomatic efforts to ensure continued shipment of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea and emphasized the importance of maintaining U.N.-brokered agreements and holding Moscow accountable for the commitments it has made, it added.

Çavuşoğlu also met with his counterparts from Germany, Spain, India, Montenegro, Bulgaria and the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.

“We discussed NATO enlargement and recent developments in Ukraine, including grain exports, with the Spanish foreign minister, with whom we met in the margins of the 77th U.N. General Assembly,” Çavuşoğlu tweeted.

“We discussed visa issues, Aegean problems, and the latest developments in Ukraine with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock,” the minister also said.