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Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke with US Vice President Dick Cheney by phone Tuesday evening in a bid to ease tensions between the two NATO allies, Anatolian News Agency reported Wednesday.
Their conversation was related to a Turkish-US joint commission meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, which aims to solve the dispute concerning the US detention of 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq last week, an event plunged the relations between the two countries into a crisis, the report said.
"It was a conversation about continuation of these talks at a higher level," Erdogan said.
The joint commission was originally to be held in Suleimaniyah in northern Iraq on Tuesday, but was cancelled at the last moment.
It was reported that the United States did not make a gesture or apology to Turkey, only sending an unauthorized delegation to the commission meeting in Suleimaniyah. Angered by the US attitude, the Turkish delegation left the table and boycotted the meeting.
Through consultations between the two countries, another meeting at the level of lieutenant general was arranged in Ankara on Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2003)
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