ANKARA, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Turkey and the U.S. will hold the first meeting to discuss normalizing their ties on March 8 in Washington, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday.
During a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Turkey on Feb. 15-16, Ankara and Washington agreed to establish new mechanisms to handle their differences in an effort to normalize the strained bilateral relations.
Syria will be on top of the agenda of the first meeting in Washington, said the report.
Turkey launched a cross-border military operation on Jan. 20 in Syria's Afrin region to oust the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, dubbed by Ankara as a terror group affiliated with the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey.
Ankara also vowed to expand its military operation to Manbij, where about 2,000 U.S. troops are deployed to fight the terror group Islamic State (IS) together with the Kurdish fighters. Washington has warned that Turkey's move will lead to a military conflict between the two NATO allies.
Turkey said once the YPG leaves Manbij, Turkey and the U.S. could take joint steps to restore stability there and in other cities.
Another Turkey-U.S. committee will focus on the U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016. The U.S. refusal to extradite Gulen to Turkey has infuriated Ankara and led to the rising tensions in the bilateral ties.
Other issues, including Turkey's procurement of S-400 anti-missile system from Russia, migration and visa issuance, will also be discussed.
