The in-person meeting, held in Brussels on the sidelines of NATO summit, was positive and productive, said Joe Biden at a press conference live aired on several local channels.

While Joe Biden did not much detail on the conversation, earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated both leaders would deal, among other issues, with Washington’s concerns about Ankara’s Russian S-400 air defense system purchase.

Erdogan, however, said that this point, considered one of the most controversial, could not be tackled down in depth, yet he did tell Biden that Turkey is free to use its own defense system.

The first parts of the S-400 anti-missiles arrived in Turkey from Russia in July 2019, and from that moment on, US-Turkey relations have been strained.

Biden-Erdogan talk cropped up a few hours before the expected meeting between US president and his Russian counterpart Valdimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland.

pgh/Pll/oda / avr