Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Güler and US Defense Secretary Lloyd James Austin discussed bilateral and regional defense and security issues on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense of Turkey reports.
According to the US report, Austin expressed condolences over the terrorist attack in Ankara and, acknowledged Turkey's legitimate security concerns, discussed Turkey's recent actions in Syria.
The minister stressed the need to avoid any harm to the civilian population and reiterated the importance of close coordination between the US and Turkey to prevent any risk to US forces in the mission to defeat IS.
