Erdoğan to hold call with top U.S. execs ahead of Biden meeting - Reuters

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan is set to hold a conference call with executives from some 20 large U.S. companies, including Microsoft and Netflix, on Wednesday to discuss investment in Turkey, Reuters reported on Monday, citing three sources.

The call is intended as a prelude to a June meeting with Erdoğan’s U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, one source said.

The May 26 call is organised by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Turkish presidency’s investment office, the Turkish Embassy and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the sources said.

Erdoğan and Bidenwill hold their first bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the June 14 NATO leader meeting in Brussels, Belgium, the White House announced in April. The meeting arrives against a backdrop of tensions between the NATO allies, including over Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system, which Washington maintains is incompatible with NATO systems and poses a security threat.

“It is a way to test the waters with U.S. companies, (a) kind of preliminary work prior to a face-to-face meeting with Biden,’’ an industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Turkey “wants the domestic and international audience to get the message that basically says Turkey is an important partner,” the source added.

“This meeting is private and off the record, so we are not able to provide any details, ” a U.S. Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman told Reuters via e-mail.

Biden and Erdoğan held their first phone call in April, four months after the U.S. president’s inauguration.

Biden told Erdoğan during the call that the White House would call the Ottoman massacre of Armenians a century ago a genocide, in a move that diverges from his predecessors and drew Ankara’s condemnation. The Biden administration has also criticised Turkey’s human rights record.

The call is scheduled for around 1500 GMT on Wednesday, Reuters said.