Turkish, U.S. Officials hold talks as Erdogan heralds ‘new era’ in relations

Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will hold political consultations in Ankara on Thursday. Bilateral ties, as well as regional and international issues, will be discussed during the meeting, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Wednesday. The U.S.-Turkey relationship has deteriorated after Turkey acquired S-400 air defense missiles from Russia in 2019, which resulted in Ankara’s exclusion from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program and sanctions against its defense industry. The two countries also differ over Syria, where the United States backs Kurdish militants that Turkey considers terrorists, Libya and…