UPDATE - Turkish foreign minister to visit Washington

UPDATES WITH MORE QUOTES FROM AKSOY

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his American counterpart Mike Pompeo have agreed to meet in Washington, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference in capital Ankara, spokesman Hami Aksoy said the date of the visit remains undecided.

On April 27, Cavusoglu and Pompeo held a bilateral meeting during the NATO foreign ministers summit in Brussels. "Here, they discussed the implementation of the pre-agreement on Manbij, Turkey's purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia and the issue of American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson," Aksoy said.

Regarding working groups that Turkey and the U.S. established, Aksoy said: "As you know, one of the working groups on consulate matters have already met. We are trying to determine a date for the other working group's meeting, it may also meet soon."

Turkey and the U.S. have established working groups to discuss the stabilization of Manbij, Syria and to prevent any clashes.

Both nations have been trying to iron out a number of issues, principally the issue of terrorist YPG/PKK group in Syria which the U.S. supports as a "reliable ally" in the fight against Daesh.

Also, Aksoy emphasized on the importance of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.

“Our approach to resolving the problem on Iran's nuclear program has always been very clear. We wanted this to be resolved via negotiations and diplomacy… For us, the agreement signed on 2015 between P5+1 countries and Iran has great importance,” he said.

- Cyprus issue

Aksoy added that the International Atomic Energy Agency reports so far revealed that Iran “abiding by the agreement.”

The U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce his decision on May 12 on whether the U.S. would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.

In response to a question regarding the Cyprus issue, Aksoy said: “There is a negotiation process that is continuing for 50 years; however, it became a vicious circle, no process can be made.

“We have always tried to be constructive during this process, always tried to be one step ahead; however, we did not reach an outcome due to Greek Cypriot side’s obvious mentality.”

Underscoring the need for a new way to find a solution to the Cyprus issue, Aksoy highlighted that “a federal solution cannot be reached with Greek Cypriot’s mentality.”

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when a Greek Cypriot coup was followed by violence against the island's Turks, and Ankara's intervention as a guarantor power.

The UN has sought a peace deal to unite Cyprus under a federal umbrella that could also define the future of Europe's relations with Turkey, a key player in the conflict.

The latest attempt to reunify the long-divided Mediterranean island ended in failure in July 2017 after two years of negotiations.